Competition
by gh08shsustyle
Summary: What if Maxie and Spinelli had a summer romance? Could it turn into more? A/U
1. Seth

**Okay all; here is my latest fic. its a little AU but i thought it would be fun. Also i should be posting a one shot soon. Enjoy and Review**

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"Maxie I am not going to compete. I won't do it."

"Compete? Honey, what are you talking about? Compete for what."

"For you."

"Me?"

"That Spinelli character must mean an awful lot to you."

"Spinelli character. Are you talking about Damian?"

"He's the one, anyway, it shows by the way you looked at him. You two must have some sort of past, a history. I won't compete. Maxie I love you, but I won't do it. I can't do it."

"I told you about me and Spinelli, about Mac and his aunt."

"Yeah, you told me that Mac and D.A. Miller almost got married when you were growing up. You just forgot to mention that this guy was her nephew and that you two are close."

"We're not. Sweetheart, I haven't seen him in a couple of years. Growing up he would come see Diane in the summer and we would hang out. God, he was practically like my brother or something. We're just catching up, that's it."

"Yeah, and it's the 'or something' that worries me. And you call that catching up? He seems to be everywhere we are, and you seem to be drawn to him. Tell me the truth Maxie, what really happened between the two of you?"

"Nothing," she lied, "we're friends, growing up he was one of the few people I knew I could count on, whether it was summer or not, he was always someone I could talk to, that's it."

"I wish I could believe you, but I don't think that's the full story."

It wasn't.


	2. Home

**here's the second installment. only a few more chapters. i mean unless you cry out for more, and i can come up with more. Enjoy and as always please review!**

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"Miller Residence."

"Hi, this is Maxie Jones; I'm looking for Spinel… I mean Damian."

"Hey Maxie, it's me. Eh, what's going on?"

"We really need to talk. Can you meet me at Kelly's?"

"How about you meet me at 345 W. Abrams St."

"Spinelli, why can't I just meet you at Kelly's?"

"Maxie just do this for me. Please!"

"Okay, but I'm not making a habit out of it."

"Fine, fine, whatever you say."

"Spinelli!"

"Maxie," he laughed," I'll see you in about 45 minutes."

"Sounds like a plan and a half. But seriously, we really need to talk, no funny business."

"The thought hadn't even crossed my mind." He lied.

She knocked on the door of the dilapidated house. "Spinelli? Spinelli are you in there?"

"Hey, yeah, just come straight back."

"Keep talking, I can follow your voice. What the heck is this place anyway?"

"It's a house."

"I can see that. Why are you here? Why did you insist on me meeting you here?"

"It's my house; I wanted you to see it."

"You're moving to Port Charles?!"

"Yep."

"Why?"

"For school, for work."

"School? I thought you were at that fancy computer genius school."

"I'm transferring here and I got a job at ELQ. They're starting a new division and needed someone."

"Someone techie to head it up," she cut him off.

"Basically."

"But you haven't even graduated yet."

"I'm just that good."

"Well, I'm telling you now, don't transfer. Don't buy this place. Please don't move to Port Charles."

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_would love to hear what you think is happening or is going to happen. might be able to guess better after the next installment_


	3. Goodbye

**Part 3...Enjoy. It's much longer than the other two parts. Review Please. So far this is over after 5 parts, so the end is near.**

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"What the hell?" He was utterly confused, "Maxie what's your problem? We were just talking; joking around, things were good, then all of a sudden it's this don't move to Port Charles crap. What's going on?"

"I just don't want you to move here. I can't take you living here. Seth is already giving me the third degree about you."

"Me?"

"Well us really. He wants to know what we had."

"So tell him."

"No. I haven't told him anything about us. I can't tell him about us. I told him we were friends; about Diane and Mac, how you used to come visit in the summer, how you're one of the few people I think I can always count on, that's it."

"So if you didn't tell Seth about us, I'm guessing you didn't tell him about her."

"Why would I," she questioned taking a deep breath.

"Why wouldn't you," he asked forcefully. "From what I hear around town you're practically engaged. I mean, if this guy loves you why are you keeping this from him?"

"I don't know. It never seems like the right time to bring it up. And, I don't know what he would do if he knew everything."

"I would hope he would understand."

"Me too, but if."

"If you told him he'd walk out on you? Sounds like a real winner Maxie!"

"I was going to say, if you actually move here, if I have to see you everyday…He wouldn't understand."

"And you're sure he's the right guy for you?"

"Look just don't go messing this up for me," she demanded.

"I wouldn't dream of it."

"Don't lie," she smiled.

"Do you _want _me to go messing things up for you?"

"NO!"

"Really? Because it kind of sounds like you do," he said playfully brushing her hair out of her eyes.

"Don't do that," she began to cry.

"Don't do that," he responded.

She got up to go, "Maxie, please don't go."

"Spinelli I have to. I don't know what will happen if I don't."

"Do you want something to happen," he grabbed her hand.

"Spinelli I have to go."

"Don't."

"Spinelli, I have to. I cannot do this again; I will not do this again. It hurts too much."

"Just go then," he proclaimed dropping her hand.

Her eyes welled up with tears, "It's just too hard, you don't understand."

"You don't think it's hard on me too. Maxie we hardly talk anymore, I thought maybe moving here would fix that. I miss us."

"Spinelli we were never an us." He looked at her shocked. "That came out wrong, you know what I meant. We had one summer, God, we were 17. Things were different. They were supposed to be fun and easy. Simple."

"They were."

"Then she happened."

"And things still could've worked."

"No, it would've never worked and you know it. Maybe things could've if it didn't happen."

"But it did, and you think we can't go back."

"We can't."

"Can't we move forward?"

"No, I really don't think we can. I really have to go."

"Can I ask you something?"

"You know you always can."

"I'm sorry if this hurts, but I need to know," he paused.

"A couple months ago," she answered, she knew the question, "you?"

"On her birthday."

"They didn't tell me you showed up."

"I was hoping to see you there."

"I went a week early, I had finals, couldn't make the party."

"They didn't tell me. She looked good didn't she? She looked happy."

"It was her birthday, why wouldn't she. It was really hard on me, though. It always is. I don't know how much longer I can do this."

"What? Stand here? Talk to me?"

"See you, talk to you. Visit her. Lie to Seth."

"Then stop lying to him. I'm going to keep visiting her, this is the way you wanted it. And as far as we go, I'm not going anywhere. I'm never going anywhere; you should know that by now."

"I know it's the way I wanted it; but it's too hard and I can't tell him." She ran out of the room, he followed her outside. "I can't do this," she cried. "Please, don't stay."

"What about school and my job?"

"Don't transfer, turn ELQ down."

"Maxie I'm not going to do that. I have to do what's right for me. I went along with what you wanted before, but I won't do it again."

"So you're just going to look out for number one, I thought you were better than that."

"Isn't that what you're doing? You wanting me to go is all about you isn't it?"

"I really have to go now. This is all just too much." And with that she was gone.

He set on the rusty porch swing thinking about what had happened three summers before, how could something so magical turn into something so painful? They had finally gotten together, had an actual summer romance and it got turned all upside down. He wondered still what it would be like if she hadn't happened. Would they still be together, would they have lasted? He was lost in his thoughts when he was brought back to reality with a kiss. "I couldn't let you go without doing that," she exclaimed, "now I really have to go home."

"I already told you I wasn't going anywhere. Now I've got even more reason to stay."

"Please, don't do this to me"

"You're the one who came back over here."

"And now I'm gone. That was goodbye." She hoped she meant it, she was happy with Seth.

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**Hope you liked it. Again please review!**


	4. Love

**the end is getting so close**

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She walked into her apartment, it was empty, Seth must have left for work. She sunk into the couch thinking about that summer. She and Spinelli had been friends for forever; at one point his aunt was the closest thing she had to a mother. When he would come to visit every summer the two of them were inseparable; somehow that summer things were different, they fell hard and she thought it would last forever. Until that one night when it got all turned around; she did the only thing she thought she could do, she ran. She found her dad, her real dad, and had him take care of it. She hadn't planned on calling him and letting him know where she went, but she did. He had been so worried, that's what he told her, he told her she could do whatever was best for her, there was no need to protect him; he wanted her to protect herself at all costs. Suddenly the light turned on, "Maxie?"

"Seth?"

"Baby, are you alright?"

"I'm fine," she said wiping her eyes.

"You've been crying."

"I hadn't realized."

"Are you okay? I got out of the shower earlier and you were gone. I tried to get a hold of you and you didn't answer, I had to leave, and now you're back. What happened?"

"Nothing. I just needed some fresh air I went for a walk, that's all; I didn't realize I was gone for so long. My phones dead I forgot to charge it."

"What's new?"

"Not funny; I know I'm always forgetting to charge that thing. Sue me why don't you."

"Maybe I will." Out of nowhere she began to cry again. "Something's up, Maxie what's really going on?"

"I already told you I'm okay. What do you want for dinner? Do you want to cook, do you want me to, or is take out okay?"

"I'm not hungry right now; nice try, but you're not changing the subject. This is about that Spinelli guy isn't it? Is he why you were crying? Did he do something to you? I'll kill him."

"Seth, calm down! He didn't do anything to me; he's not why I'm crying."

"Then what's wrong?"

"I don't know. I guess my past is just coming back to haunt me or something."

"So you do have a history!"

"I already told you we don't. He just knows who I was. He knows me, the me that I used to be. It's just hard having someone around that knows everything."

"Why don't you really tell me what's going on. Just let me in for once."

"Seth, it's nothing, just kid stuff. I promise."

"Maxie, why won't you just tell me?"

"Seth I can't."

"Because the two of you had something?! Maxie I can see it every time his name comes up, in your eyes, and in the way you get all defensive about your relationship with him. Then when he walks into a room it looks like you've seen a ghost, but when he starts talking you light up. I wish you would just tell me."

"It's not important, what we have is important!"

"So you're telling me you had something aren't you?"

"Yeah, I guess I am. But it's over, period end of sentence. Seth I love you, not Spinelli."

"But my point is that he's your past, and you felt like you couldn't tell me. Now he's here, and like I said you're completely different around him."

"I guess you could say he was my first love. But it was a summer fling, I swear. God, we were 17, it was fun while it lasted, but it wasn't going anywhere, he was only here for the summer, he was only ever here for the summer."

"But you said he was one of the few people that truly new you, that he was one of you closest friends."

"Okay, we talked during the year; there is the internet, and then I would see him on some holidays, but Seth, come on. We're friends who had something at 17 that's all."

"Maxie it seems like more to me. I don't think you want things to be over with him."

"Things are over with him! I'm with you! I love you!"

"And I love you, but I won't compete. I already told you that. Maxie you love him, he's only been here for a few days and he's already coming between us. His aunt told me at work today he was moving here for good. Did you know that?"

"I had heard that, yes."

"Well, I only see him getting in the way, more and more every day. You weren't just out for a walk were you? You went to meet him?"

"What's with the third degree? I mean I know you're about to be a full fledge lawyer and all, but you really shouldn't be interrogating your girlfriend."

"I guess its second nature when I feel like I'm being lied to."

"I've told you everything I'm going to tell you!"

"So you were with him!"

" Spinelli and I had a summer romance, and now it's over, we're friends. I honestly thought you were man enough to handle that. I really thought you'd be more understanding; especially since you're constantly telling me how much you love me, and how you want to marry me."

"And I'm sorry that you won't tell me the whole story. I know you're lying Maxie, but I don't know why. It has something to do with the two of you, and like I said I won't compete. If you can't be honest, I'm out. I do love you, but I can't stay around just to see you to run back to him."

"Seth!"

"Maxie, just tell me!"

"I already told you, you know all you need to know."

"Then I'm sorry," he turned to walk out the door.

"Seriously?!"

"When you figure out what it is you want, who you want, when you can tell me everything, call me. Until then, I'm done."

"Fine then go! I guess you really don't care."

"I'm sorry," he said kissing her forehead. "I'll always love you."

"Not like him," she screamed after he slammed the door.

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**_as always hope you enjoyed and please review_**


	5. Her

**_this is the end as of right now. enjoy!_**

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"Spinelli, " he answered the phone.

"It's Maxie again, sorry to be calling so late."

"Have you been crying? You sound like you've been crying, is everything okay?"

"No everything's not okay. He left me."

"Who?"

"Seth, you idiot."

"Why?"

"Because of you."

"Me?"

"Yeah, because I told him that we had something when we were kids, but it's over, we're friends."

"Over, _I see_. Why are you calling me then?"

"I needed to talk to you, isn't that what I said."

"Whatever Maxie. If you told him about us, did you tell him everything?

"I couldn't."

"Then don't blame this one on me!"

"This is your fault."

"No it's not."

"Well it certainly isn't all _my_ fault."

"Maxie, I never said it was. I tried telling the truth, you wouldn't let me. You were too worried about, how did you put it, 'protecting me', I really think you were trying to protect yourself."

"Spinelli! Look I thought covering it up was the best thing then."

"Then," he questioned, he wouldn't let her finish. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying, I'm going to Omaha. I'm bringing her here."

"What? Are you telling me what I think you're telling me? You won't let me do it, but it's okay for you to do it? They aren't just going to let you take her."

"I'm telling you I'm bringing her to Port Charles. I tired of seeing her when I have the chance. I'm tired of them having her. And they have to let me just have her, they never officially adopted her. They knew I could this anytime I wanted to."

"Frisco had it all figured out I guess."

"He did. Earlier you said I was the reason you were here. That you weren't leaving just because I wanted you to. I'm bringing her here, letting everyone know the truth. If you want in, you're in; Spinelli I never stopped loving you, you have to know that. But if you want to stay on the outside of it all, I'll let you. I want her, I finally realized she's what I want; what I need," with that she hung up.

He wished she had figured it out when it all started, but better now than never. He had to get to the airport, he wasn't going to let her do this one alone.


	6. Jet

_People wanted more, so here's more. and there will be at least a little more to come. unless you want me to stop here. As always enjoy and review, please!!_

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"What are you waiting for?"

She jumped, "what? God, you scared me." She looked up at him puzzled, "what are you doing here?"

"You told me you were going to get her and I'm not about to let you do that alone, she's mine too."

She grabbed his hand and squeezed it tight.

He squeezed back and wiped the tears that were falling from her eyes. "I'm here. I've always been here, I'm not going anywhere. Let's go get her, bring her home."

Biting her lip, choking back more tears she simply said, "Okay."

"Well okay then let's go," he said pulling her towards the closet gate.

"Spinelli we can't just board a plane, the flight doesn't leave for another hour."

"The jets ready, Maxie, let's go."

"The jet?"

"ELQ."

"What?"

"I told them I needed it, it was a family emergency and if they wanted me as badly as they made me believe they'd let me borrow it tonight."

"And they did? _Family emergency_?"

"They did. Yes, I do believe this would be considered a family emergency."

She sped up still in shock that he had gone to this much trouble for her after all she put him through. "I'm sorry," she sobbed.

He pulled her into a sweet comforting hug, "There is nothing to be sorry about. It's not your fault, it's not anyone's fault." He kissed her forehead, "it is what it is. All that matters is that we're getting her now;_ together_. Finally being a family is all that matters."

She laid her head on his shoulders as they walked to the tarmac and whispered, "I love you," against his neck.

Hearing those words sent shivers down his spine. He had loved her for so long; loved her so much that he did not fight her when she told him she was giving their daughter away. He didn't want to lose her, he always wanted there to be hope for them and decided that whatever she thought was best for herself was best for him too. "I love you too."

"It's about time," a woman's voice said when they got on the plane.

"What are you doing here?"

"Damian told me everything. He thought you may need some help; in case they tried to fight for her."

"Ava's mine," she paused, "_ours,_ they can't fight us on this."

"I've heard nothing was ever put down on paper, but they've had her since she was born, Maxie." She was interrupted.

"We've been there too," she hollered, "for God's sake, I named her, she's my daughter damn it."

"You may have been there, but they've been raising her."

"Aunt Diane," he muttered under his breath as Maxie started to sob again.

"I'm not trying to upset you; I'm just trying to be realistic."

"You think they're going to fight us too, don't you? That's why you called her, you're scared."

"I just wanted us to have someone on our side. Someone we could trust."

She took a deep breath, "What kind of chance do you think we have?"

"A good one. At the time you were doing what you thought was best for her, you were a teenager, you did what you thought was right."

"I feel a big but coming."

"But they've had her for over three years." She saw Maxie tense up, "I still think you have a great chance of getting her. Like you said nothing was ever officially done. Are both your names on her birth certificate?"

"Yes, does that matter?"

"It couldn't hurt. Especially since the two of you are going to get her together. Are you planning on raising her together?"

"That's why I'm here."

"I told him that was how I really wanted it. But even if he wasn't here, I would be fighting to get her."

"Good," she smiled, "that should help."

"Now," he paused, "this is only if they decide to fight right? We've been talking worst case scenario right"

"I think it can if I call my dad."

"Mac? Have you told him anything about this yet?"

"NO, not Mac. And I really didn't want to say anything until we got back to town with her. I think he may take it all easier with her there."

Diane laughed patting Spinelli on the back, "he might want to kill my nephew here less if he sees his granddaughter first."

"Kill me. I'm not a criminal. Why would he want to kill me? What did I do?"

"I don't Spinelli how about because you knocked me up at seventeen!"

"You're the one who broke his heart when you ran off to live with you mother for no apparent reason."

"I came back."

"Does not dismiss the fact that you broke his heart, _dear_."

"And telling him I was a pregnant high school senior would've done the same thing."

"Enough you two."

"Yes ma'am," they said practically in unison.

"When you said calling your dad might help, what did you mean?"

"I'm sure Spinelli told you that Frisco orchestrated the whole thing."

She nodded in response seeking more information.

"Well, since he set the whole thing up, don't you think he could help get her back?"

"Isn't he some sort of special secret agent?"

"He is. Why?"

"Well, do you think you could get a hold of him?"

"I'll call Mac, tell him that I need to talk to my mother, when I talk to her I'll see if she can't get daddy to get in touch with me."

"And Mac won't wonder why you want to talk to your mother?"

"I'll just tell him I need my mommy."

"He'll probably ask if you plan on running away again."

"Shut up. I'll tell him that Seth just dumped me and I need my mother. He'll be happy that I want to talk to her."

"And he'll want to kill Seth, it'll take his mind off of anything out of the ordinary you are doing," Diane interjected. "I suggest you make that phone call."

So that was exactly what she did.


	7. Ours

**so since i decided to keep going with this, heres you next installment. as always please enjoy and please please please review. love hearing from you, the good, the bad, questions too.**

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Her things were packed and ready when they got to their door. "We really wish you wouldn't take her," she cried.

"I'm sorry. I really am," Maxie cried back. "She's our daughter, I just want her back, I should have never given her up in the first place."

"You're father explained it all," the man half hollered back.

"We're her parents," his wife continued. "She's been with us since she came home from the hospital."

"I'm sorry," she still sobbed.

"We're sorry, really," he stopped he didn't know what to do. "Can we please just take her? We really do not want to cause you anymore trouble."

"She's asleep in her room. Do you really have to take her right now? Please, just give us time to say goodbye."

"Excuse me," Diane interjected.

"Who are you?"

"Their lawyer," she softly stated.

"You got a lawyer?"

"We were playing it safe."

"You're really serious about taking her. You are planning on raising her? Now? After all this time!"

"They do not want to lose anymore time," Diane answered. "Now as their attorney I need to know what the two of you plan on doing?"

"We don't have any choice but to give her to them."

He grabbed her hand as they both let out a sigh of relief.

"We'd be fighting you if we could. She belongs to us more than she does to you. If you're damn father didn't threaten us."

"Frisco threatened you?"

"He sends her here, then thinks it's okay to rip her out of our lives; just because you want her back and he can expose us."

"Expose you?"

"We can't talk about it." They couldn't if they did they would have to be relocated. You did what you were told when you were in witness protection.

"Really, I am so sorry about this," she couldn't stop sobbing. "I just want her, I need her. She's my family, she's my daughter."

"I realize she's asleep, but can we see her anyway?"

"She's upstairs."

"In her room?"

"No, she fell asleep in our bed and I didn't have the heart to move her."

"We'll get a room for tonight," he told them half asking Maxie at the same time.

"You can have all day tomorrow, to say goodbye," she suggested.

"It's late, you can go up and see her, but please don't wake her up."

"We understand," they said as they headed upstairs hand in hand.

When they walked into the room and saw their daughter asleep a slight smile appeared on both of their faces. She looked so peaceful. If they brought her home would she be happy like she was right then, there with the only parents she had ever known?

"You are the most beautiful little girl," he whispered kissing her forehead.

"Ava, your daddy is right, you are perfect," she said stroking her curls.

"We're really doing this," he asked Maxie.

"We are," she replied inching closer to him. "God, all I want to do is set here and watch her sleep."

"Come on," he said helping her off the bed, "we should go, let them spend as much with her as they can. Would you be mad if I felt sorry for them?"

"No, I feel sorry for them. Do you know how hard this decision was? I've wanted her for so long, I just didn't know how I could take her away. How I raise her alone. How I could raise her with him. How I could tell everyone. I convinced myself I was doing the best thing for all of us. God, I really screwed this all up didn't I? She's been with them for three years, how can we rip her away from them?"

"Maxie," he pulled her into a guest room, "is this really what you want? Do you want to bring her to Port Charles? Do you really want to raise her? I've always wanted her, but if coming her was just a whim and you're not sure, maybe she's better off with them."

"Spinelli," she cried, "I want her, I want to be her mother. God, I am her mother. I'm not getting cold feet, I'm just regretting that I gave her up in the first place. That I am putting you through all this, that I put her through all this, that I put myself through all this, that I'm putting them through this. Don't doubt me, I want her, I want us," she said kissing his check.

"Don't worry about leaving," a voice from the doorway said. "All of you can stay here tonight, it's late; maybe all of us being here in the morning will make the transition easier on her."

"We couldn't impose."

"Damian, it's no imposition, you've stayed here before."

"It just seems different this time."

"It is different, buts it's okay."

"Thank you Mrs. Flowers, again," she paused holding back a new set of tears, "I really am sorry, I just couldn't imagine my life without her any longer. I was tired of convincing myself I did the right thing, when I knew I hadn't."

"Maxie, dear," the other women pulled her into a hug, "I understand, she's just so, well you know, it's going to be hard, but you are her mother. I couldn't imagine living without Joey."

"Joey," she looked back at Spinelli sadly, neither one of them had considered what taking Ava would do to him.

"He'll be fine, don't worry, he'll be fine. He barely sees her anyway, being away at school and all."

"But he finally got used to being her big brother."

"He's only a year younger than the two of you. He knew she wasn't ours, he'll miss her, but he's got his own life to live. We talked to him tonight, he says he understands."

"Get your rest you've got a long road ahead of you. I'll set up Ms. Miller in the room downstairs."

"I'll take the couch then, Maxie you can have the room."

"Spinelli, don't be silly, you can sleep in here."

He looked at Mrs. Flowers thinking it might not be a good idea.

"Do whatever you two want. You are adults," she chuckled, "you have a kid already."

"I'll sleep on the couch." He didn't know what else to do, he wasn't sure how together the two of them were. They had agreed to raise their daughter together, but had they really decided to make a life together _together_?

"Well goodnight then," Maxie said kissing his check. "Thank you," she said softly.

"Thank you?"

"Yeah, thanks for being here, doing this with me. I didn't want to do this without you."

"Thanks for letting me in," he said leaving the room.

"Spinelli," she grabbed his hand.

"Yeah Maxie."

"Don't go. Please stay. Stay with me tonight. Hold me?"

"I'm not going anywhere," he sweetly said walking back into the room. "I'm never going anywhere."


	8. Port Charles

**Here's another. You just thought i was done with this (so did i). i wrote a whole bunch of chapters the other night so... Enjoy and please review.**

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They stepped off the plane and back into Port Charles as a family. Turning the corner she literally ran into Seth.

"Maxie, God, where have you been?"

"Away," she snapped. "Not that it's any of your business anymore."

"Look, honey, I have to go away for work tonight, I'll be home in two days, can we talk then?"

"I've got no reason to talk to you."

"Maxie, I'm sorry for what I did the other day. I jumped to conclusions about the two of you; I should've trusted you when you said you were done with him."

"All set," he stated walking up behind her putting his arm around her waist not noticing Seth was standing right there. "Diane's bringing the car around."

"Where's Ava," she whispered.

"Diane has her."

"What the hell do you think you're doing with my girlfriend," Seth hollered knocking Spinelli down to the ground.

"You jackass, what did you do that for," she screaming rushing to Spinelli's side.

"I'm fine," he said calmly rubbing his jaw. He had expected that Seth would fight for her; he was ready to.

"Maxie, I thought you said nothing was going on between the two of you."

"Nothing was until you walked out on me. It made me realize even more where I wanted my life to be; who I wanted in my life."

"And that's this fool."

"Yes! And don't you ever talk about him like that again. You don't even know him. You don't' know what he's done for me, what he has given up for me."

"I'm sure he hasn't done anything I wouldn't do, haven't done."

Spinelli stood back shaking his head, "if you only knew."

"If I only knew what? Huh? Speak up, if I only knew what."

"God, how could I have ever fallen for you?"

Looking down at his phone and back up he said, "we've got to go. It was a pleasure seeing you again Seth."

"You're not going anywhere."

"My aunt's waiting; her text said Ava's getting antsy."

"Seth really we've got to go," she told him holding her hand up to say goodbye.

"What's so important that you can't explain to me why you chose this guy over me?"

"Ava!"

"Who's Ava?"

"My daughter, our daughter," she said pointing between herself and Spinelli quickly.

"You have a kid?"

"Yes, she's three; we just got her back, now we need to go."

Seth grabbed her by the arm trying to stop her from leaving, he wanted an explanation.

"She's got nothing else to say to you buddy, let her go," he said sternly.

"Like you could do anything about it."

"He doesn't have to," she said kneeing him in the gut. "Goodbye Seth!"

"You've always been able to take care of yourself," he said kissing her forehead.

"It took you two long enough," Diane said when they finally climbed into the car. "I think she's tired, where am I taking all of you? My house? Maxie's apartment?"

"You can take me and Ava to my apartment for now I guess."

"The two of you could come to my house."

"Spinelli, that's sweet, but I was just there, it's nowhere close to being ready for you to live in it, much less anyone else. Diane we haven't really talked about the logistics of anything. We probably should've talked about custody agreements, living arrangements, whether we're changing her name. Wow, we kind of did this backwards didn't we?"

"Maxie, you wanted her, that's what we were going off of. It's okay we can figure it all out. Can you just take us to Maxie's for now?"

"I think I can handle that."

They reached her building; she walked Ava to the elevator, Spinelli in tow with all of Ava's things. When they reached her floor and made it to her apartment, she swooped Ava off the ground, "Does Ava want to see her new room?"

"Uh, huh," the girl giggled.

She opened the door to the home she and Seth had shared. Before anyone entered she turned around, "this isn't going to work."

"What's not going to work," he panicked.

"I can't live here," she said shaking her head frantically, "Ava,"

"Ava," Ava repeated, pointing to herself. "Maxie," she said slowly point to Maxie, "Damian," she stuttered point him out.

"That's right, Ava," he said, "you are so smart."

"Ava," Maxie suggested, pointing out the little girl, "Mommy," she pointed to herself, "Daddy," she finished pointing to Spinelli.

"Nuh huh, Auntie Maxie," she insisted, "Damian," she continued reaching for him.

It broke Maxie's heart and he knew it, he pulled her close and held her tightly, "she'll learn, we just have to say it a lot. Kids learn names through repetition."

"Okay," she said with a deep breath.

"Now, why can't you live here?"

"Because Seth lives here."

"Oh, right."

"I mean, I thought he would move out; he's the one who walked out, but when I opened just opened the door, the place looks like he's been here."

"Okay, so what do you want to do? Go to Mac's? Diane offered to have you stay with her. That's where I'll be until my house is finished."

"I don't know. I haven't told Mac about any of this yet; and Diane's I haven't stayed there since _that_ night," she stopped and held her lips together tightly; she hadn't stayed there since the night their daughter was conceived, hell it was hard for her to even go there and keep up appearences.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"For what?"

"Everything. Nothing. I don't know, it just sounded like the right thing to say."

"I guess Mac's is the best place to stay. I just don't know how I'm going to tell him this."

"_We'll _just tell him; be honest, explain everything."

"Maybe you could take Ava to Diane's she needs a nap," she said patting her brown curls.

"No nap," she cried rubbing her eyes.

"Okay, shhh," he started rocking her in his arms, "no nap."

"She needs a N-A-P," she spelled.

He shrugged as if to let her know he knew.

"Take her to Diane's, I'll go tell Mac."

"I'm not going to let you do that alone."

"It's the best option right now. Besides you don't need a black eye to match your busted jaw."

"He wouldn't do that."

"I don't know what he's going to do."

"I'll drop her off and come with you."

"No, spend some time with her," she kissed his check, "you could use a nap too."

"No, nap," Ava cried again.

"Go, I'll come over when I'm done."

"You'll have to drop us off, my car isn't here," he sighed, handing her their sleeping little girl, he picked up all of their things and followed her back downstairs.


	9. Family

**It just keeps on going doesnt it? Hope you enjoy, and as always please review. I like to know whos reading!**

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"What are you two doing here," she said opening the door.

"It's nap time."

"No, nap," the little girl mumbled half asleep.

"I thought she was taking Ava home with her?"

"She decided she needs a new place to live."

She looked at him puzzled.

"Seth's still in their apartment. She doesn't want to stay there."

"So?"

"So she went to talk to Mac. She's thinking about staying there until she finds somewhere else."

"And you didn't go with her?"

"She told me not to. She wanted me to stay here. Should I have gone with her?"

"If Mac's going to do something to you, well, he'll find you."

"Georgie," she jumped opening the front door. "Where's dad? I need to talk to dad."

"Hi to you too."

"Sorry," she said hugging her sister, "What are you doing here anyway?" She wasn't going to let Georgie distract her, "where's dad? I need Mac."

"He's not here. He had to go to the city early yesterday morning, PCPD 's working with NYPD, some case is coinciding with theirs; something like that. He said he'd be back in a day or two. What's wrong? I tried calling you when I got home, no one knew where you were. Seth said you too got in a fight and he hadn't seen or heard from you."

"Nothing," she lied. "Why are you back so soon?"

"Don't you watch the news?"

"I've been a little busy," she slightly chuckled.

"Well a hurricane was supposed to make land fall close to where we were staying , they sent us all home. Something about outer bands and flooding."

"That's no fun."

"Nope, I wish we could've finished. We were learning some great things."

"But safety first and all."

"Right," she rolled her eyes, "safety first. That's a good one coming from you. Really, something's obviously up, you ran in here all frazzled. You can talk to me, I mean, isn't that what sisters are for?"

"Can I just stay here tonight?"

"What's wrong with your apartment?"

"Seth."

"So you're still fighting?"

"Yep, he's there, so I'm not."

Pulling Maxie into a hug she sadly said, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be, we broke up."

"That's worse," she said squeezing her big sister tighter, "If you want to stay here feel free, you know I don't care."

"Thanks and really don't be sorry about me and Seth. It's really for the best."

"I don't know, the two of you made a great couple."

"Georgie, it's over and there is absolutely no chance of us getting back together."

"Was he cheating on you," she asked worried.

"God no," she sighed, in fact it was kind of the other way around, "I just realized my life need to go in a different direction."

"Spill."

"I need to talk to dad first."

"Maxie, I'm your sister, you can tell me, I won't say anything," she begged, "what's going on?"

"I'll tell you later, when I get back, okay."

"Where are you going?"

"To get a few things; I'll be back soon. I'll tell you everything," she hollered walking out the door.

When she pulled up in front of Diane's house they were playing in the yard. "How'd he take it?"

"He wasn't home."

"Then what took you so long?"

"Georige."

"She's home from Mexico?"

"Some hurricane was headed their way. Wait, how'd you know where she was?"

"Maxie, you're sister and I are friends too. I know you remember the summers I spent here, she was here too."

"I didn't know the two of you still talked."

"We still talked didn't we? Even with everything that happened between us, we still talked."

"Yeah, but not a lot."

"Well the two of you mean a lot to Diane, so."

"Whatever," she said blowing it off, it was nothing to get up in arms about. "Mac's out of town, so Ava and I are going to go ahead and stay there tonight."

"What about Georgie?"

"I'll tell her everything when we get there," she sighed. "How was your nap?"

"Good, it could've been longer, but good."

"The two of you look like you're having fun," she smiled playing peek-a-boo with Ava.

"It was just so nice outside."

"Did you think about taking her to the park?"

"You have the booster seat in your car."

"Oh right. I think we need to do a little shopping. Would you be interested in going to the park with us," she asked inquizatively.

"I'd go anywhere with," he crawled across the grass closer to her; her heart began to beat faster, "Ava," he quickly sprang to his feet and chased their daughter around the yard. He scooped her up in his arms and flew her to Maxie like an airplane, "give mommy kisses," he told Ava once he had her floating in front of her Mother's face.

"So are we going to the park or not? I don't want it to get dark on us."

"Are you sure about going to the park, it seems a little public does it not?"

"It'll be okay, it's not like they're going to assume she's our kid."

"I was referring to us being in the park together."

"If people see us together and want to talk, let them, it doesn't bother me. If someone wants to start a rumor that we've got some torrid affair going on, who cares, I mean we're together right?" It was an honest question, she desired to know the answer.

"Right, but,"

"But nothing. If you're worried about people thinking bad of me because they think I'm still with Seth," she paused, "look it's about to come out that I had you're kid in high school, gave her away, and just now decided that I want her; they'll forget about the whole Seth thing soon enough."

"Life is about to get very complicated for us isn't it?"

"Even more reason for us to have a fun evening."

"A night of family fun sounds great," he said helping her up. "Are my two favorite girls ready to go to the park?"

"Park," Ava screamed, "Swing!"

"Ava," she asked do you like to swing?"

"Uh huh," she smiled.

"Daddy does too," she giggled bumping her hip up against his.

"Only when mommy pushes," he teased.

"Silly daddy," Maxie laughed rolling her eyes.

"I've got an idea," he said moving the booster seat from her car to his.

"Do share."

"In due time my lady."

"This isn't the park Spinelli," she stated when they stopped by Kelly's.

"I know just give me a few minutes."

"What are you up to?"

"I'll be right back."

A few minutes later he returned with a paper sack, "I got dinner," he said climbing into the car. "Is a picnic okay with you?"

"Sounds great."

"I'm hungry," she hollered from the back seat.

"Good, I got you peanut butter and jelly."

She clapped from the back seat.

"After we eat we can swing," Maxie informed her. And that was exactly what they did

As he was taking a drink from the water fountain he felt a tug on his pants leg, "yes?"

"Ice cream," she asked pointing to the ice cream cart, "please!"

He looked at Maxie and nodded to the cart.

"Me too," she begged.

He grabbed Ava's hand and headed to the get dessert.

She could feel his presence behind her, her eyes got big, she turned around, "Daddy, what are you doing here?"

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_so i realized i hadnt written anything about georgie. this fic so doesnt follow gh, its just got its characters, so why shouldnt georgie be alive? no reason, thats why she is! have a couple more chapters written (working on making them better) will update soon!_


	10. Flood

**Enjoy and as always PLEASE review. Not real sure about this chapter, especially the way its ends, but there's more to come, so just go with me.**

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They were obviously together, everyone thought they had the cutest summer romance; a teenage fling, the kind dreams were made of. It wasn't the first time they had been together together, but somehow this time felt different. They didn't know if it was because summer was coming to an end or if it was the fact they were doing right under his aunt's nose, but this time it really was definitely deadlier, sweeter, more passionate than even their first time, plain and simple it was different.

Six weeks later she knew why. He was gone and she didn't know what to do, she decided to run, let someone else take care of it. Telling Mac goodbye was one of the hardest things she had ever done. She couldn't tell him she was pregnant, not right before her senior year started. She couldn't disappoint him or her sister like that. Her mom wouldn't understand either, but she had walked out, she owed her. When he asked what the big deal, why she had to leave Port Charles and her family, she told him she needed to get to know Felicia better, that she needed a change, that Port Charles had too many memories, she needed out. Being the great dad he was he let her go, he knew Spinelli could've well been her first love and maybe a change of scenery would pull her out of the funk she had fallen into.

Her mom was thrilled to see her, even after being told about the baby; she said she would do whatever she could to help. When Maxie asked her to call Frisco and help get it taken care of she did.

Keeping a secret like this from him was breaking her heart so against the advice of both her mother and father she called him.

"Maxie, God, wow, I haven't talked to you in forever. I've been trying to get a hold of you, Diane said you left Port Charles, is everything okay? I miss you, you know that right? God I miss you, I love you."

"I miss you too," she cried.

"Why did you leave, why haven't you been answering my calls or emails? I can tell something's wrong, sweetheart, what is it?"

"I don't know how to tell you this."

"Just tell me, if it's something about you or us, we can handle it. We can handle anything together."

"I don't think we can handle this one. God, my parents would kill me if they knew I was doing this."

"Maxie what's going on," he demanded to know.

"I'm pregnant."

"Pregnant?"

She nodded, not thinking about the fact that he couldn't see her.

"Maxie, are you still there? Say something. Did I hear you right?"

She took a deep breath, "I'm still here and yes you heard me right. It's yours by the way."

"Did you think I was going to ask, I wasn't going to ask."

"I just thought I'd let you know."

"Is that why you left?"

"Uh-huh, I couldn't tell Mac or Georgie, I can't stand to disappoint them."

"I know you don't want to disappoint them, but I don't think they'd see that as a disappointment."

"It really doesn't matter, they never find out."

"What do you mean they'll never find out? Maxie you didn't?"

"No," she snapped, "I could never do that."

"Then how won't they find out?"

"Look I just thought you should know I'm pregnant and I'm giving the baby up for adoption."

"Adoption?"

"Yes, adoption. Are you ready to raise a baby? I'm not. What about college, huh? You are so smart Spinelli, I can't," she paused, "I won't drag you down like that."

"Maxie, being a family with you wouldn't be dragging me down."

"Yes it would. Look at it like I'm protecting your future. The future you're supposed to have."

"Maybe my future is you."

"Spinelli," she sighed, "we're so young; we're not ready for this. I want us to have a future together too, but not like this, not just because of a baby. Spinelli I have to give this baby up; it's what's best for it."

"Maxie, what's best for it is us? For you? For me?"

"I'm doing what's right, what's right for me and the baby. It is what's best. One day you'll see, you'll understand."

"I think I understand why you think it's what you have to do, but Maxie, it's not. I love you, isn't that enough?"

"I love you too, but you know good and well that's not enough. "

"Maxie please don't do this. Don't you believe we're meant for each other? Maybe this was how it was supposed to happen."

"You can't convince me that this isn't the best thing. You certainly can't convince me this was supposed to happen! Spinelli if you love me and this baby do what's best for it. Let a family that wants it have it, we're not ready. Please do this for me."

He tried to convince her otherwise, even after Frisco had given Ava to The Flowers'. She loved him for that, but she also knew her strength and will not to change her mind was something he loved about her.

After senior year she suddenly showed back up in Port Charles, not as bubbly as before, but still same sweet, sometimes trouble making Maxie, much to the surprise to Mac. She told him she needed to come back, that she had gotten to know her mother, but missed him and Georgie, that she couldn't actually believe she had stayed gone so long. She told him she was starting PCU in the fall, and if he would let her, she wanted to move back home. He loved her, of course he let her come back, it was her home.

Feeling his presence brought it all back. Her brain was flooded with good and bad memories. Memories of the family she had left behind, memories of that summer with Spinelli, memories of _that_ night. Memories of the secret she had kept for too long and thoughts of the life she tried to create with Seth. Spinelli was her summer, he and their daughter were her life, the life she was ready to have. An adventure she was ready to live, it was time to tell Mac. She took a deep breath, "Mac, you're back."

Faintly she heard him holler, "Ava, Ava wait for me."

Ava ran to Maxie holding out an ice cream cone, "ice cream mommy."

When she heard her call her mommy she burst into tears; it was a rush of emotions, pure joy, love, sadness, worry. She could feel his glare, here it goes she thought, picking up the little girl holding her tightly. "Daddy, meet Ava Blake Spinelli, your granddaughter."

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_Love to hear what you thought!_


	11. Grandpa

**yet another installment. please review and enjoy. check out my other fics please. working on updating welcome back (part of making a memory) because people want more. this chapter came easier than an update of that so here it is first. **

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"Har-har, very funny," he laughed.

"Hey, Damian, when did you have a kid, Diane never said anything."

"He had a kid the same day I did. Well I guess technically before then; he became a father the day our baby was conceived," she rambled.

"Maxie stop. Either Spinelli has a daughter or you're playing some mean joke on me, but either way you need to stop."

"Sir, I do have a daughter."

"We have a daughter, you're granddaughter."

"Did the two of you run off and get married, making his kid yours or something? What about Seth?"

"Mac, she called me mommy."

"I heard, but Maxie, you don't have a daughter, I would know."

"Not if I hid it from you."

"How do you hide a pregnancy?"

"You run."

"What?"

"Don't you remember summer before senior year, when I went to go live with mom?"

"Of course I do, it broke my heart, it broke your sister's heart."

"It broke my heart too, but disappointing you, God, I thought that would break your heart more. I couldn't do that."

"So you ran?"

"I ran, and had."

"Had his baby," he said knocking Spinelli to the ground, "you took advantage of my teenage daughter, then let her go?"

"Mac!"

"Twice in one day, I don't know how much more of this I can take. Mac I didn't know."

"I was already gone when I told him."

"So the two of you were sneaking around that summer?"

"Mac, please, that isn't the point."

"You're right, that's not the point. The point is you and Spinelli had a baby when you were in high school, and you didn't tell me."

"No, the point is Spinelli and I have a baby. The point is you have a granddaughter. The point is I've decided I want my daughter in my life, I want her father in my life. The point is your family just got bigger. The point is this is something good, something that makes me happy, that's the point; I'm finally happy, finally free."

"I take it you've been raising her."

"No, no sir I haven't."

"Then where has she been. Maxie has your mother had her?"

"No, she's been in Omaha."

"Nebraska?"

"Yes, with a very nice couple. They've been raising her, the two of us have been visiting her on and off."

"I thought I couldn't handle being her mother. What I really couldn't handle was not being her mother. We just went and got her back."

"And what's going to happen now?"

"We're going to raise her, she's our daughter, what do you mean what's going to happen?"

"What about school? How do you plan on paying for a child? What about Seth, I know you said you were fighting, is he still in the picture? Where do you plan on living, you're apartment is barely big enough for you and Seth. Are you and Damian together? Is he going to play daddy?"

"That's too many questions. Daddy we don't have it all figured out yet. Seth and I are officially over, I'm moving out. I don't know where I'm going. I'm almost done with school."

"I start at ELQ next week. We plan on raising her together."

"Are you getting married?"

"Married," they both said shocked and confused.

"Daddy, we," he cut her off.

"Sir, we've decided to raise Ava together, as a couple. I think marriage would be jumping the gun a bit."

"We want to raise her as a couple, start out slow, build our relationship to something more than just being together for her. We want to be together for more than her, but our lives have to be about her right now."

"We owe it to her to be a family. We owe it to ourselves to try."

"I still can't believe this is happening."

"We really can't either to be honest."

"But it is."

"I really don't think you have enough of this figured out. You said you were moving out of your apartment, where do you plan on moving to?"

"I was hoping to move in with you, until," she paused, she hadn't discussed it with him yet.

"Until what? Until you find somewhere else. I mean I wouldn't have a problem with that."

"I already have a place in mind." Mac and Spinelli both raised their eyebrows. "I'm just waiting for it to get finished."

"Really," he asked.

"If you'll have us."

"Have you, I didn't want it any other way."

"Would someone like to fill me in on what the two of you are talking about?"

"She's talking about the house I'm remodeling."

"If we plan on raising our daughter together, I thought it would be a good idea for us to live together. Can Ava and I stay with you until our house is finished? If you want to say no, I'll understand; we'll stay somewhere else, there's always Diane's."

"You will not stay with Diane. I have a feeling staying at Diane's brought this all on. You can stay with me until you find somewhere better, somewhere that doesn't involve living with him."

"Daddy, I'll stay with Diane if you're going to act like that. I'm going to move in with him, as soon as possible, we have a daughter to raise, time to make up for."

"Sir, we want to be a family, I think it's the best thing for all of us."

"Stay out of this."

"I can't stay out of this, that's my daughter. I'm taking her to the playground; she doesn't need to be here for anymore of this. Maxie, come and get us when you've figured out where the two of you are 

staying tonight. You are more than welcome to stay with me at Diane's, if you want we could get a suite at the hotel." He took a deep breath and turned his attention to Mac, "I really hope the two of you figure this out, I know you love your daughter, that you probably hate me right now, but sir, I love my daughter too, I want to build a family with your daughter around her. I know I want you to be a part of Ava's life."

"Daddy I couldn't imagine you not being in our lives."

"The two of you are jumping to conclusions. I just don't think that moving in together is what's right. As far as I can remember the two of you haven't been together since Damian's last summer here. Maxie you said it yourself that you didn't tell him you were pregnant until after you decided you weren't ready to be a mother, and now," he shook his head. "And now you want to be some instant family?"

"The thing is Daddy, that we are an instant family. We became a family the night I decided to fly to Omaha and get her, the night I told him if he wanted in he was in, the night he showed up at the airport with the ELQ jet, ready to get our daughter and bring her home."

"Maxie."

"Mac, we're a family, plain and simple. I know this came as a shock, and I'm sorry," she began to sob again. "I just couldn't not be with her, can't you understand that?"

"I do understand that, it was hard not to make you come home when you left." He pulled her into a tight hug, "of course you can stay at the house. For as long as you need; you can stay forever if you need to."

"Daddy," she half cried half laughed.

"I'm serious. I know you want to be a family, for your daughter. I just hope you take a step back, not get caught up in the moment."

"Living for the moment is all we're guaranteed."

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**Hope you liked it and please REVIEW!**


	12. French Toast

**Here's another update. I'm almost positive it's the longest one in this fic thus far. Hope you enjoy! And as always, please, please, please, REVIEW! It gives me a greater desire to continue; to update more often.**

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"Maxie," she said entering the house. "I got a few DVDs and some pizza, thought we could talk and hang out; have some quality sister time." She walked into the kitchen, "Are you going to tell me what's going on or not? Spinelli!?" She saw him with Ava getting a drink and was puzzled. "What are you doing here," she questioned while waving at the little girl, "who are we babysitting?"

"He's here with me silly," she said coming into the kitchen, "and we're not babysitting."

"So who did you offer my services too? Maxie, you do realize that you can't just tell someone I'll sit for them without running it past me, don't you? What if I had plans? God, we had plans!"

"Relax, you're not babysitting, I swear," she said holding her sisters shoulders in her hands.

"Than what's going on," she snapped before Maxie had a chance to explain.

"This is what we needed to talk about, believe me I didn't forget."

Georgie looked back at her puzzled.

He slowly got up and grabbed Ava's hand, "I'm going to take her upstairs, get her ready for bed," his eyes widened, "let you ladies talk."

"Thanks," she smiled.

"What's going on?"

"You're gonna wanna set down for this."

"I'm not setting down for anything. You're scaring me, just tell me what it is!"

"All right, do you want the good news or bad news first," she questioned playing with her sisters emotions.

"Bad news," she replied firmly, "always give me the bad stuff first."

"I would if I could, but there isn't any," she laughed.

"You brat, that's not funny," Georgie cried.

"Just trying to lighten the mood," she stuck out her tongue.

Georgie rolled her eyes.

"Okay, so here goes. Do you remember the summer that Spinelli and I were actually a couple and how I left right after he did?"

"How could I forget, you broke Mac's heart," she shook her head a bit, "mine too."

"I'm sorry, but I had what I thought was a good reason."

"Really? Breaking up with guy was a good enough reason to run away?"

"That's not what I was running from. I was running from life."

"What?"

"Georgie," she paused, why was it easier to tell Mac than it was her sister? "Georgie, I left because I was pregnant. Spinelli and I got pregnant, that's our daughter upstairs."

"What," she spat. "How? Huh! Oh My God! Where has she been? With Spinelli? He never said anything! _You_ never said anything! Did he know?"

"First of all, I know you know how. Secondly, of course he knew," she took a deep breath, "but not until after I left. She's been in Omaha, with a very nice family. I just got her back. Spinelli and I just got her back. I couldn't not have her."

"How could you do that to him? To her? Them? How can you just give her up, then take her away? I that even legal?"

"None of this was ever legal, official. Nothing but the fact that her birth certificate says Spinelli and I are her parents. Frisco made sure of it."

"Daddy? Daddy helped you?"

Maxie shrugged her shoulders, "he knew before long I would want her back, he made it possible for me to get her back."

Georgie set there in complete shock. "So you and Seth?"

"I already told you earlier, that we broke up. Not because of Ava, he didn't know about her until this morning."

"So you told your ex before you told me? Does Dad know? And by Dad I mean Mac."

"I knew who you were referring too, and he knows, he's back home by the way. We ran into him at the park. And no I hadn't planned on telling that jerk before you. He was leaving for business, just as we were getting off the plane. What was I supposed to do, ignore him, he was all over me and Spinelli."

"What about Spinelli," she asked back.

"Is he the reason Seth and I broke up? No," she paused, "not exactly. Sort of," she sighed. "I mean I could never love anyone like I love him, I really tried with Seth, but he just wasn't Damian Spinelli."

He smiled when he heard that. He hadn't intended on eavesdropping, it wasn't something he did. He was only coming down to tell her that Ava had fallen asleep; but when he heard his name, he couldn't help himself.

"I guess that answered my question. The one I was attempting to ask, before you so rudely cut me off."

"And my answer was?"

"Oh, that you loved Spinelli. I was going to ask about how you planned on raising, Ava, right?"

"Yes," she nodded, "Ava Blake Spinelli."

"Spinelli?"

"He's her dad, she should have his last name."

"So I figured you planned on raising her together, but everything you've said in the last five minutes tells me you plan on raising her _together_ together."

"Together together, we at least want to try," he stated walking over and sweetly kissing her on the cheek.

She smiled, surprised, "For us, not just because of her."

"Precisely."

"Where is she? You can't just leave her alone," she reprimanded.

"She's asleep in your bed."

"Because you're moving home until you find somewhere new. I know we discussed that when you said you broke up with Seth earlier."

"Just until my, _our _house is finished."

"House?"

"I'm moving to Port Charles."

"I got your email. I knew you were finally moving here, that ELQ hired you. I just didn't think about you getting a house, I mean an apartment maybe, but a house?"

"I was trying to steal your sister back."

"Like a house would do that," Maxie snapped back.

"Didn't it?"

"No."

"Okay," he nodded, "because you didn't come to my beautiful fixer upper, tell me not to move here, then leave, only to come back and kiss me."

She bit her lip and shrugged a little.

"Oh, please, let me continue. Did you or did you not call me just hours later, telling me that you wanted to bring our daughter home."

"With or without you," she added.

"Yes, but you said you would prefer to do it with me. So I ask you again, did the house not win you back?"

"Nope, I'm pretty sure the idea of my daughter did. The idea of us being a family did. Not the fact that you bought some money pit to impress me."

"Not trying to interrupt this touching family moment, but it sounds like someone needs her mommy and daddy."

Georgie was right, Ava was crying from upstairs, they both raced up the stairs to see what was going on.

The next morning he was in the kitchen, in yesterday's clothes, fixing something for breakfast. They had taken turns all night with Ava, who had gotten a fever; perfect way to spend your first night as a family. Diving right into the deep end sounded reasonable, why not just throw all the joys of parenthood on them right away.

She yawned coming down the stairs, not knowing where he was, wondering why he had let her sleep so late; not that she minded the extra time in bed, but she didn't expect to wake up without him. She peaked into the living room and saw a folded blanket and pillow setting on the end of the couch. Spinelli, she thought, he would do something like that. Just the other night they had shared the same bed, but now they were back in Port Charles, and even though they had a child together, he wouldn't dare sleep in the same bed as her, not in Mac's house. She heard a noise coming from the kitchen and figured that was where he had run off to. She saw him standing near the sink, walked up behind him and threw her arms around him, placing her hands on his chest, pulling him as close as humanly possible. "What are you doing? Why did you let me sleep so long?"

"After last night I thought my girls needed their rest."

My girls; that sounded perfect to her.

"I was just fixing a little something to eat," he continued showing off the French toast he had made.

"Aww, French toast, my favorite," she said kissing his neck, "you remembered."

" I could never forget something as important as that," he replied taking her hands, and turning her so that she was positioned in front of him. She swiftly lifted herself up and took a seat on the counter in front of him; where as soon as she had done so, he was offering her a forkful of her favorite breakfast.

She shook her head no, she wasn't hungry for breakfast just yet; she had something else in mind. She was there. He was there. He hadn't run when Ava got sick last night, he let her sleep in, he had been way too much of a gentleman by sleeping on the couch, and he had gotten up and fixed her favorite breakfast, how could she not want him right then and there? She moved the fork out of the way and went in for the kill.

He was shocked at what she was doing, not that he was opposed to it, but in the kitchen, of her family house, where anyone could walk in at any moment. He wanted to stop her, he wasn't exactly sure they should be even taking things to the next level so soon, but when her lips were on his and his body was begging for more, he went with it.

"Sorry," she screamed, dropping her empty glass, scaring them into an abrupt stop. She covered her eyes and attempted to back out, "in the kitchen, with the food," she mumbled, running into a chair. "Ouch," she paused opening her eyes, hoping it was safe to open them again, "Couldn't you take it upstairs? Or," she suggested, "not even do it at all? Am_ I_ going to have to be the one to remind you where babies come from," she asked hobbling out of the room.

They looked at each other, completely embarrassed. He put his elbows on the counter and looked up at her, sending off a now what glare.

She kissed the top of his head, slid off the counter, grabbed her plate, and simply offered him an, "at least it wasn't my dad in return." She took a bite of her French toast, before setting down at the table and saying, "this is really good," out loud.

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Another update shouldn't be too far away. Hope you enjoyed this one. Questions, comments, suggestions, REVIEW! I really like hearing from you, the good, the bad, the ugly, the whatever. I just want to know!


	13. Morning

**Finally right, this update took forever. i tried writing it so many times; then when i did it so isnt where i intended on going. i wasnt going to stop here, but if i didnt stop i was worried about how the story would transition. and, it was pretty long for a chapter in this fic. more to come very soon.**

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He rolled over hoping to feel her next to him, knowing he wouldn't. He had slept at Diane's that night; even if he hadn't they weren't sleeping together at Mac's. He had spent the past few nights on the Scorpio couch, her room was not an option, not after what almost happened in the kitchen.

She had insisted he go to his aunt's get a good night's rest, since he was starting at ELQ the next morning, and Ava was sick. He had tried to make her realize that he wanted to be there, that it was part of being a parent. She tried to convince him that it was only one night; that the next day was important to him, to both of them, to their future. She practically had to shove him out the door, but he went.

He wiped his eyes, blinked, yawned, stretched out his arms, and blinked again; he was unsure if he was seeing things right.

"Good morning sleepy head," she smiled, standing in the doorway.

"Morning," he responded in disbelief, "how's Ava?"

"She's not running a fever, Georgie said she would watch her, she knew it was your first day," she shrugged.

"So?"

"So, I wanted to come and wish you luck."

"Do I need luck?"

She rolled her eyes, "no," she paused, setting down on the bed next to him, "I just wanted to see you okay? I missed you last night!"

"I told you I should've stayed," he replied moving a strand of hair from her face.

"You didn't need to, you needed sleep. Besides it was good for us, we needed some time alone, to bond." She bit her lip and grinned a little, "she called me mommy again."

He kissed her cheek sweetly, and brushed the lone tear; happy tear, that fell from her eye.

"Okay," she clapped, standing up "get up, get dressed, you've got a big day ahead of you."

"What? Wait! Where are you going," he questioned hoping up quickly, "I thought we were having a moment?"

"We were, but now where not. You have to get ready," she said slapping his butt, "now go."

He looked back at her, he liked her this way; forceful, "and where will you be?"

"I'll be right here silly, you go shower, I'll lay something out for you to wear."

"I can pick out my own clothes. I have been my entire life."

"Fine, have it your way. I'll go get you some coffee and a muffin or something."

"Hey," he said grabbing her hand as she breezed past him. "If you want you can pick something out. It might be nice to have a women's touch."

She perked up, "that's what I thought." She headed towards his closet, "black or blue?"

"What?"

"Black suit or blue suit?"

"Dark blue, I guess."

"Okay!" She searched his closet for the perfect first day attire. She settled on a pair of khaki colored dress pants, a navy suit jacket, a pin stripped shirt in a lighter shade of blue, and a tie with light blue, navy, brown, and cream diagonal stripes running through it. She set it out on the bed and headed downstairs to get the two of them a cup of coffee and find him some sort of breakfast.

He got out of the shower and made his way back to his room, he found what she had laid out for him and thought about how that was what he had intended on wearing in the first place. Well he though a solid shirt, but if she thought this looked best, then this looked best. "Maxie," he called out, "where are you?" when she didn't answer started to get dressed. He removed his towel and pulled on his boxer briefs.

"Take it off," she hollered.

He spun around to see her walking into his room with a cup of coffee and a cinnamon roll; he quickly pulled on an undershirt.

"Here," she said offering him his mug.

"Hold on a sec," he replied pulling his pants on, he had one leg on and was hobbling to put the other leg on, practically tripping over himself.

She just set there watching silently giggling to herself.

"I thought you didn't want me to be late?"

"I don't, I was just saying," she shrugged.

"So, you brought me coffee," he said grabbing the mug.

"And a cinnamon roll," she responded waving the plate in front of his face. He grabbed his shirt and began to put it on, "Stop," she squealed.

"What? Why?"

"If you are anything like the Spinelli I grew up with, you don't want to do that."

"Do what?"

"Put your shirt on before you drink this cup of coffee and eat breakfast. You've got to be nervous, it's your first day, and I don't want you to get your shirt dirty before you have to go. Then I'll have to pick out a whole new outfit for you," she said taking his coffee mug and removing his shirt. "I'll hang this up, you eat."

"Whatever you say dear."

"Did you just call me dear?"

"It sounded good."

"Maybe in your head," she said ruffling his hair.

"Now I'm going to have to fix that again," he said taking another swig of his coffee and putting down the cinnamon roll.

She handed him his shirt which he promptly put on. She set on the edge of the bed, admiring her handy work. He stood in front of the mirror about to put his tie on when she walked up behind him, turned him around, and said, "Let me."

"I can do it."

"I know, but I want to."

"How do you know how to tie a tie anyway?"

"I used to tie," she was about to say Seth's, but definitely didn't want to bring that up, "Mac's, sometimes, you know, just one of those father daughter things." She adjusted the knot so that it looked perfect, "I know the two of you will have moments like that."

He knew she meant Ava, but couldn't resist, "you really think Mac and I need a moment like this? I guess it could be good for bonding."

"Jerk, you know what I meant," she said pinching his arm.

"Owww," he rubbed in response.

She kissed lips hard her tongue begged for entrance; he wasn't going to deny her this. He backed her up against the dresser; they stayed in the moment until something in her head snapped them out of it.

"Why are you stopping?"

"Because you're going to be late," she pouted, wiping her lips.

He looked at his watch, "rain check?"

"Always! Have a wonderful Hun," she said kissing him on the cheek this time.

He gave her a what the hell look.

"Well if you're going to call me dear, I think I'm going to start calling you, hun, or baby, or sweetheart, or something. Is that okay sugar?"

He kissed her forehead, "I don't care what you call me as long as you call me lamb chop."

"Don't call me lamb chop, bad memories." Lamb chops, oh how that puppet scared her when she was little, she didn't know why any kid liked it.

"This is the song that doesn't end," he began to sing.

"Out, go now, you are so going to be late, Tracy is going to kill you!"

"Goodbye lamb chop," he laughed.

"Stop it," she whined.

They both rushed downstairs, knowing if he didn't hurry he really was going to be late. They might have wanted him enough to let him borrow the jet for a family emergency, but not showing up on time was certainly not going to look good.

She made sure every hair was in place, adjusted his tie, and kissed him goodbye before sending him off to begin what was going to be the start of their new life. She picked up her bag and followed him out the door, humming that stupid song as she went along, "gee thanks."

"It's the gift that keeps on giving," he said kissing her cheek as she climbed into her car. "Have a great day, tell Ava I said hi, and give her this," he said kissing her cheek again.

"_You_ have a great day. And I will give our girl that. I'm sure I'll see you tonight."

"Wouldn't miss it, la…"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence."

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**so what did you think? anything missing? please please please review. good bad ugly, a review is a review. anywhere you want this to go? guestions? suggestions?**


	14. Dinner

_**This chapter was hard for me. You'll find out why when you read. Its something I haven't done. Hope you enjoy and please review.**_

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She jumped adjusting the towel she had wrapped around her when he walked into the kitchen, "you're home early."

"What are you doing here?"

"Surprising you."

"What kind of surprise did you have in mind," he questioned admiring the way she looked wrapped in a towel, hair a mess, no makeup on.

"Dinner," she giggled embarrassed, she was so far from being ready, "I thought it would be nice. I knew you would stop by the house after work and thought it would be fun to have dinner here."

"And the towel?"

"I showered. I slaved over a hot stove all afternoon for you and needed to freshen up."

"Since when do I have water?"

"Since I called and had it turned on. Just trying to help out, I don't want to live with Mac forever," she said holding on tightly to the towel.

"I don't want the two of you there forever either. That's why I'm here instead of with you and Ava, I wanted to see if the contractors made any progress."

"They didn't do anything today, I sent them home, my plans were more important," she playfully shrugged. "It all worked out, you're here with me."

"And Ava, am I going to see her at all today?"

"You don't plan on staying at Diane's tonight do you?"

"Only if you want me to."

"I don't," she said shaking her head no, "you can play daddy later," she said kissing his cheek, "this time is for us."

"She's not here?"

"Nuh huh, Daddy's watching her, we're all alone."

"Well then," he said brushing his hand against her cheek, and pulling her into a deep kiss.

She laughed a little, "I can't believe how different you are."

"Different?"

"You aren't the fumbling, bumbling, Spinelli I grew up with, the Spinelli I fell for."

"Finding out you're going to be a father, but not be a father," he paused, "losing the love of your life. It changes you; makes you grow up. All I wanted to do was be the guy for you."

"You've always been it for me, I just couldn't see it. I don't think I wanted to, loving you just brought it all back."

He ran his along the back of her neck.

"I'm sorry," she whimpered.

"Stop doing that," he took her face in his hands and wiped the tears that were beginning to fall, "stop apologizing."

"But I am sorry."

"The past is the past. We've got a future to look forward to."

She realized that throughout this whole conversation she was standing there in a bath towel and slippers, "okay, so dinner, its ready. The timer was going off, or I would be dressed," she rambled. "Let me go get dressed. I bought bar stools. Oh, and candles. Anyway I'll be right back, don't go anywhere."

He loved seeing her like this. He loved being the one that had her all worked up, all confused. As she headed towards the bathroom he softly grabbed her arms.

She felt a rush in the pit of her stomach.

"Don't go," he insisted, planting his lips on hers.

She felt the rush again.

They slowly moved in unison to find something to brace themselves against.

"Kitchen counter," she giggled her lips still pressed against his.

"Want to try that again," he said backing her against it. He took it as a sign when she began to began to unzip his pants. She had always been a take charge kind of girl, he didn't mind. Well, he used to mind, but not this time; he needed her, he wanted her, and she wanted him back.

She started to wrap her legs around him, moving her towel ever so slightly up her body.

He stopped her dead in her tracks, he buried his head between her covered breast, "stop."

"Stop?!"

"No," he said catching his breath, "wait." He reached for his pants, then his wallet, then for a condom he had stored inside.

She stared back at him, "prepared are we? What have you been doing the whole time we've been apart?" She demanded an answer.

"Yes, prepared, since the other day, in your kitchen. God, Maxie, as much as I love you," he paused, "and as much as I want to show you how much I love you. And as much as I love our daughter," he continued, "we're not ready for another one. God, we just got Ava." He looked up at her while slowly moving his hand up her thigh.

She moaned in pleasure, butterflies returning to the pit of her stomach. She still wanted to do this. She needed him, she needed him to know he was hers, that she was his, that Ava wasn't the only reason they were together. Her eyes widened as she took the condom from his hands, as she attempted to open the wrapper, part of her body slid into the sink, the towel falling, revealing her sun-kissed skin. She threw her arms up in disgust, "we can't do this."

"Uh. Well, "he gulped, picking the still unopened condom from the floor, "okay, we can st-op," he stuttered. He didn't want to stop, he needed to do this; well he needed to do something, he had an issue that had to be taken care of, a big issue.

"I didn't mean we needed to stop. I just meant that the kitchen counter wasn't going to work," she slightly shrugged. "Hello, I practically just fell completely into the sink."

"So we're still doing this," he smiled.

"If you can come up with a different location."

He spotted a drop cloth that the painters had left, "done," he said picking it up. He lifted the cloth, shook it out, and let it float down to the ground. He helped her off the counter.

She took a deep breath. They hadn't been together since the night; that night; the greatest night of her life. She had a feeling that what was about to happen would be so much more. She let the towel drop as he helped her down from the counter. She let a small grin come across her face when she saw that he was taking all of her in.

He kissed her neck softly. He took his sweet time as he kissed down to her collar bone, then to the top of her breast.

She breathed in his scent when he buried his head between her breasts again. She tore open his shirt, ignoring the buttons, she helped him out of his boxer briefs, leaving him just as exposed she was.

He gently laid her to the ground and covered her body in kisses yet again. He moved his hands all over her, like he could not get enough.

She kissed his chest, then moved to his neck, she made her way to his ear. She knew that drew him crazy, she found that out the other morning in her kitchen. As he kissed her stomach, her body grew a little tense, she nibbled hard on his ear than she had intended; his hair tickled her skin.

She rubbed his back as he began to caress her inner thigh with one hand, the other in her hair as he devoured her neck. She locked the leg that he wasn't paying attention to around him and pulled him closer to her. She could feel his heart racing, and knew he could feel hers. She gazed up at him and slowly nodded. He slowly moved inside of her. She let out a ragged breath, she had been waiting, wanting, wishing, for this for the longest time. They quickly found a rhythm and set a slow pace. She loved the fact that he was taking his time with her, it made her feel safe. "Don't stop," she cried, as she felt herself coming.

He couldn't stop. He wouldn't stop. She was the sweet release he needed in his life. She was they thing he desired most in the world. He felt himself coming as well.

They both thought to themselves that it couldn't have been a mere coincidence that the climaxed at the almost exactly the same moment. They were meant to be, they were fated, destined for one another. They had had their fair share of bumps along the way, made a few wrong turns, but those turns still lead them to that inevitable fork in the road, this time they chose the right path, Ava, each other, a new beginning.

He exhaled loudly as he rolled from on top of her to lie beside her

She moved in closely to him, placing her sweat covered hair on his chest, finding much needed rest in his arms.

Several moments of silence had pasted, when she finally spoke, "soooo," she said softly, "how was your first day?"

"Long," he huffed. He knew he had to tell her, "hey I hope this is okay, but."

"But what?"

"I had to tell The Quartermaines what my family emergency the other day was," he looked at her concerned about what she was thinking. "They wouldn't let the fact that I asked for the jet go."

"Someone else had to find out soon enough," she stated bluntly.

"So you're okay with it?"

"I should've told you, but I told Georgie she could tell Dillion. And Mac, he accidently let it slip to Robin on the phone the night I moved back home. And well," she hesitated, "anyone that was at Kelly's for lunch knows, I met her and Georgie for lunch. Mike was happy for us," she shrugged hoping it was okay.

"So we're really doing this," he said in a half question half statement.

"Honey," she laughed, "I think we already did."

He moved the hair that was beginning to stick to her forehead out of the way and kissed it softly.

She picked her head up to where her lips were on the same level as his and kissed him deeply, their tongues dancing in synch.

"Maxie! Damian!" They heard with a loud knock at the door. "Come on! Spinelli! Maxie! Are you two in there? It's Lucky. If you don't come to the door in five seconds, I've got orders to break it down."

She grabbed his shirt from the ground, it would cover more of her than it would him and rushed to the entry way. "Lucky?! God, what the hell? Why are."

He cut her off, "Everyone's been trying to get a hold of you," he said grabbing her arm.

Spinelli entered the room in his dress pants, "What's going on? Let go of her!"

"The two of you need to get dressed and come with me! Mac's freaking out. He said neither of you could be reached. I don't know what's going on. He called the station and told me to get my ass over, hoping one or the both of you would be here. He's at GH, he said something about having to take Ava in or something."

She sunk to the floor.

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**_A small shout out to the Opposite Attraction cbox with this one. The term 'big issue' was coined in a convo the other day. Thanks ladies and gents._**

**_Questions. Comments. Suggestions. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE I beg of you REVIEW!_**


	15. Neglect

Well here we go folks. Hope you like it! Read and Review. Pretty please with a cherry on top!

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"Where is she," they shouted, scared, in unison rushing into the E.R.

Diane who was wearing a whole in the floor replied, "Curtain 5. Mac's with her right now."

They ran down the hall and threw open the room divider, "What's going on," she cried seeing her daughter hooked up to some kind of drip.

"It's about time you got here. I had to leave her with Georgie, I got called to the station; then Georgie called." He was frantic, "she said she couldn't get a hold of either one of you, Ava's fever came back, and she started vomiting. You're sister was so worried, I told her to bring her in, that I would meet her here."

"Okay, what's going on," she asked again. "She's seen a doctor?"

"Yes, the pediatrician on call has seen her. He had a lot of questions. He's running test now."

"Test," she asked, "what kind of test?"

"Questions?"

"Stuff about her medical history. I called Diane to help me with the family history stuff, but medical history, we didn't know. Do the two of you know?"

"Tell me what kind of test," she demanded stroking her daughter's hair.

"I'll call The Flowers' and get them to fax her files over from their doctor," he said rubbing his temples, "I can't believe we didn't think about any of this stuff. We got her, I thought that was all that mattered." He flipped out his cell phone, gave Ava a kiss on the forehead and said he would be right back.

"Daddy, what kind of test are they running," she asked again, tears beginning to roll down her cheeks.

"Routine ones honey," he replied pulling her into a sweet hug.

"They're just trying to rule out everything they can," a nurse said entering the closed off area they were in. She waved a stuffed moose in front of Ava, who quickly took it. "Hi," she said sweetly, "I'm Nurse Nadine, I'm going to take your temperature just be still," she said placing the ear thermometer in Ava's ear. "All done." She turned her attention to Maxie and Mac, "you must be her mother," she smiled, "she's a trooper, she hasn't given us any trouble. Her fever has gone down a little, but not enough. The doctor will be in a second. I've got more patients to check on."

"What do they need to be ruling out?"

"Maxie," Robin said entering the room, "we don't have any kind of real medical history, and we've got to rule out everything."

"Thank God, you're helping," she shook her head at her cousin.

"Of course I'm helping. I couldn't just set around and do nothing," she shrugged kissing Maxie on the cheek.

"Done," he said reentering the room, "they called their doctor and are going to fax her old charts over as we speak."

"So they couldn't give you any insight as to what might be wrong?"

"No, they said she's never really been sick before."

"This is all my fault," she said leaving the room.

Mac looked at him like he better go after her.

"It's not your fault. How could it be your fault?"

"Because I was with you, not with her."

"That would make it my fault not yours," he said pulling her into a consoling embrace.

"No, it's my fault. I was thinking about myself. About my needs, about what I wanted, not about the fact that she's been getting sick. I should've stayed home with her. God! I'm not ready for this. I knew there was a reason to leave her with them. Why did I have to bring her here?"

He backed out of their embrace, placed his hands on her shoulders and looked her squarely in the eyes, "because she's your daughter and you love her. Because you needed her. Because she belongs to you."

"Right, I was only thinking about me! I wasn't thinking about her, she was happy with them, she was healthy," she rambled, "this is all my fault," she said again.

"Stop saying that. There is nothing wrong with wanting your child. If you want to blame someone blame me."

"You?"

"I'm the one that got you pregnant," he smirked.

"I think we both had something to do with that."

"So both of us deserve all the blame, we are her parents, this falls on the two of us. Or," he paused, "you could not blame anyone. Is someone getting sick really anyone's fault?"

They were interrupted when they saw a doctor walk into her room, "I've got results," he bellowed.

She wiped her eyes, he kissed the top of her head and they followed him in.

"What do you know," Diane asked as she rushed into the room too. "Give it to me straight doc."

"Who are all these people? It's a lot crowded in here. I know you're the Grandfather, and that you're related somehow too," he said pointing to Diane, "I know her aunt brought her in with some guy, where did she go? And Dr. Scorpio insisted that she was family and needed to be on this case. Who are the two of you?"

"They're her parents," Diane said rolling her eyes. Did he think they weren't ever going to show up, could he not see the resemblance?

"Nice of you to join us," he said bluntly, "the two of you can stay, as can Dr. Scorpio, everyone else out, it's getting too claustrophobic."

"But," Diane objected.

"Out! They can fill you in on everything." He glanced back at the two of them once everyone had left the room, "now, how come we don't have any records of her in our system? We got a brief family history from your relatives, but we don't have any medical background on this little girl. Has she ever seen a doctor? Do the two of you not know how important that is? Is she caught up on her immunizations?"

"Don't question them like that," Robin ordered, "you have no idea what they've been through." The truth was she still didn't even know the whole story.

"And I don't need to know their life story. I just need to know if their daughter has been taken care of health wise. If she hasn't I could report them for neglecting her."

"Neglect! We've done nothing like that. She's only been with us for a short period of time."

"So she's adopted?"

"NO! It's a complicated story. All you need to know is that she has been well taken care of and her medical records or on the way."

"All right, well Mr. and Mrs. Spinelli."

"Jones," Maxie interjected.

It felt like a dagger to his heart, he didn't know why, they weren't married.

"Okay," he didn't care what their names were, "we've ruled out something as simple as an ear infection, and we're pretty sure it is not just the stomach flu. Although, she was very dehydrated. We're pumping her full of fluids, to reestablish her electrolytes. She's on a fever reducer to reduce her fever obviously. We did a throat culture to rule out strep. What else, we've taken a blood sample to do some test on. We're checking on different kinds of viral and bacterial infections. I don't know what else to tell you? Right now it looks like her vomiting has subsided. We do want to observe her overnight. We'll be moving her up to the Pediatric Unit before long. Nurse Crowell will come in and assist in that." With that he left the room, assuming Robin could answer any questions they had.

They stood there dumbfounded, he had rattled off so much. What was wrong with her if it wasn't the stomach flu, could it be something that antibiotics could take care of, or was it something more?

"I wasn't ready then. I'm not ready now, we're not ready. We can't do this; we can't be good enough parents to her. She hasn't been here long and she's already in the hospital," she said picking Ava up, placing her in her lap, rubbing her hair. The tears began to flow again.

"I'm sure it's nothing too complicated. She'll probably need medicine. Maxie kids get sick. You didn't do anything wrong," Robin expressed.

"Oh my sweet sweet Ava," he said setting on the bed next to them. "The doctors will figure it all out," he put his arms around Maxie, "they have to. And," he continued, "If they can't, I'll call in all kinds of specialists. This is not going to be a problem. Maxie we'll get through this, I'm sure it's nothing, like Robin said, 'kids get sick'. They give her medicine and it will be the end of it. And we may not be ready for _this_, but what parent is ever ready for the first time this child is rushed to the E.R.?"

"I'm sure they would've been," she sulked.

"You have to put that out of your mind. Maxie she's ours, she's always been ours, she will always be ours. Nothing is going to happen to her. I promise," he said rocking his two girls.

"How can you promise me that?"

"Because I can. Do you think I'm going to let anything happen to her?"

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Still not 100 percent sure where this is going anymore. Every time I set down to write something changes. Oh well, this story has had a mind of its own for awhile.

Hope you liked it. Please review, that's what keeps me going!


	16. Fight

**Here you go. Hope you enjoy and as always REVIEW. Questions, Comments, Suggestions are always welcome! P.S. I'm not a doctor, but I am going to school for nutrition, so I do know a little bit about her condition.**

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They had spent the night pacing the room in the Pediatric Wing, taking turns setting with her, trying to sleep, not getting any. The doctor had already come in and explained that her fever was caused by a bacterial infection, something she could've picked up anywhere. She started antibiotics, but the vomiting began again as soon as she tried to eat real food. Diane was ready to sue anyone and everyone involved in the case. She couldn't understand why it took so long to find out what was causing her great niece such pain, nor could she understand why she had gotten sick again. It had taken some convincing to hold Diane off until they found out what was really going on, but they did.

Maxie was still taking it all as a bad omen, "I'm never sleeping with you again," she huffed as she walked past him in a hurry to get some much needed air.

"What," he asked confused, "what does sleeping with me have to do with any of this?"

"Oh, I don't know, we'd never be in this mess if I never slept with you!" She didn't mean any of it, she was just upset.

"You're right we wouldn't be here, because Ava wouldn't have even happened," he yelled back. "And," he continued, "I suppose you blame me for keeping you from her last night, when you know good and well it was your idea not to be with her."

"Excuse me for wanting to do something nice for you. But look where it got us! She's sick," she said pointing into Ava's room.

"And if we were at Mac's house instead of ours; if we were with her instead of each other," he paused, realizing he was getting louder than he had ever wanted to, "we would have been the ones to bring her in, not you're very helpful sister."

She began to walk away, he's right, she thought to herself, it would have just been them bringing her in instead of Georgie, Dillion, and Mac; but she couldn't help but think that the outcome would have somehow been different. That if the two of them had been there from the beginning that the problem would have been solved sooner. They would not have had to wait on a medical history or family history for so long.

"Where are you going?"

"I need some air," she said, lip quivering, tears welling up in her eyes. "I'll just be right outside, come and get me when she wakes up or if the doctor comes back with any news."

He turned around, he wanted to give her the space she was desiring, he know the whole situation was frustrating to her. "I'll be right here, are you sure you will be okay?"

"I really just need some air," she responded slowly.

"I will come find you if your presence is needed before you return." With that she walked away.

She got on the elevator and was headed to the first floor so she could escape. It seemed like it took forever, stopping to pick up more passengers, drop others off, it was all getting to her, when the doors opened on the first floor she let the word finally escape her lips. She rushed out the main doors to the hospital and right into him.

"What are you doing here?"

"I came to find you."

"Go away!"

"I'm not going anywhere."

"I don't want you here! Leave!"

"No," he said attempting to pull her close, her fighting the entire time. "I was stupid to let you go."

"You were, but that's not the point, I don't need or want you anymore."

"Sweetheart," he said with disbelief in his voice, "I don't believe that. Not for one second."

"This was all your choice. You walked out on me."

"And you ran straight to him."

"To him and my daughter, to the life I was supposed to have. The life I should've had already. I ran into the arms of the family I had been denying myself." She through her hands up in frustration, "why am I telling you this? Please just leave me alone, I need a break. I just came out here for some air, not to be with you," she yelled as she walked away.

He grabbed her arm, turned her toward him, and said, "I'm going to fight for you Maxie Jones," he slammed his lips into hers.

She pushed him off and slapped him with all the energy she had left, "you've got to be kidding me! My daughter is up there _sick_. The doctors don't know what's wrong with her," she began to cry. "And you," she sucked in the air, "you choose this moment to come here and say you want me back?! That ship has sailed!"

His eyes widened when he walked out the hospital door, he saw her standing there, shaking, crying, angry. "Maxie," he hollered.

They both turned to see him standing there.

"You," he said seeing Seth, "What did he do to you?"

"Nothing," change the subject Maxie come on change quick she thought to herself. She wiped her tears, "did she wake up? Have they found anything new yet?"

"No, they don't know anything. Georgie and Dillion came back, they told me to take a walk, get some coffee or something. I thought I would come check on you. I guess I had the right idea. What's going on?"

"Nothing, I promise," she took a deep breath, "Ava needs us, we should be up there setting with her, not Dillion and my sister," she said grabbing his hand trying to drag him back inside.

"Stay away from her."

"Spinelli stop, he's not worth it," she said still trying to drag him inside. "I'm okay now. Ava needs us, come on."

"Are you sure you are alright," he asked standing right beside her now.

She shook her head, "I'm sorry about what happened up there, I'm just so frustrated, so worried."

"As am I. I think we both said some things we did not mean."

She took his hand and interlocked their fingers, "Ava is what matters right now. We shouldn't be fighting," she laid her head on his shoulder as they walked back inside.

They got in to the elevator, Seth following them, "didn't I tell you I don't need you?"

"Yes, you did, but I don't believe you. I walked out on you before, when you needed me, but I will not do it again."

"Can you not see that she has me?"

"I think she likes the idea of being with you buddy. The thought of being with the father of her baby probably sounds pretty good. Makes her feel like what she did wasn't so wrong."

She rolled her eyes, "you're so smart aren't you? You really think saying something like that is going to make me want you back?"

"Look I really think you like the idea of being a family with him. I think you like the idea of being a family period. Why not be a family with me? We were living together, we were so close to getting engaged. Maxie I love you."

"And I think you loved the idea of me, but not me. If you really loved me you wouldn't have walked away from me!"

"I came back!"

"But it's too late _buddy_."

"You walking away was one of the best things that's ever happened to me. Really, Seth, we're done! I've got my daughter and I've got Spinelli. I don't need or want you." The elevator door opened and they all walked out.

"We were just coming to get you," Georgie said, "Nadine just said Dr. Matthews is on his way up."

"What's he doing here," Mac said glaring in Seth's direction.

"Oh Seth?! Seth here has come up with the idea that he can win me back. He thinks coming here and telling me he's sorry, that he loves me, that he's ready to fight for me, _now_, is going to do something. That it's somehow going to change my mind; make me walk away from Spinelli."

"Do you want me to do something about him?"

"Just ignore him."

"Celiac Disease," Dr. Matthews sang as he joined the group.

"And that would be?"

"Young man, that would be what's wrong with Ava. You're daughter can't handle anything with gluten; her body is unable to digest it properly."

"Why didn't they mention it? Did the Flowers' know?"

"I don't know, nor do I want to know, all the crazy details of where she's been and why she's with you now; it probably hasn't come up because sometimes it can go undetected for years. People believe they are simply allergic to something they ate."

"So that's it," she questioned looking for his support. "What are you doing," she asked seeing him on his computer, "Dr. Matthews is going to explain what to do about Ava now, what kind of treatment she needs."

"She needs to be on a gluten free diet. See," he said shoving the laptop in her face.

"He's right," the doctor shrugged, "some companies even sell special food online; it makes it easier to get that than trying to find gluten free foods in a regular grocery store."

"I'll get the two of you some information we have on those companies and the disease itself," Nadine offered walking away.

"So that's it," Diane asked.

"That's it. Guess you won't be suing me or the hospital after all," he joked. "I'll have the front desk start discharge papers, she doesn't need to stay anymore."

"Thank you," Spinelli said holding out his hand.

"Not a problem. That's what I'm here for."

"Really, thank you. Sorry if we've been a pain, we're new at this," Maxie said giving the doctor a quick hug.

"Just take her home. Oh, and make sure that anyone who watches her knows she can't handle certain foods. You're really going to have to pay attention to that kind of stuff."

He took Maxie's hand and they walked back into the room, where she was still sleeping peacefully; their entourage following behind them.

"So," he whispered as they set down together on the edge of the bed, "are we okay?"

"We're fine," she said kissing his cheek. "Is he still out there?"

"He's still out there," Georgie answered.

"I can file a restraining order."

"Are things slow at work Ms. Miller," Dillion asked, "you've been threatening legal action on a lot of people."

"No, I just really enjoy my job."

"Shhhh," Mac insisted, when he noticed Ava was waking up, "you're waking her up."

"We're gonna go," Georgie whispered, kissing Maxie's cheek, "I'm glad she's okay."

"We're glad you brought her to the hospital," Spinelli replied.

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**Hope you enjoyed it! I think I'm finally getting this thing back on track. Seth's back! Someone else may pop up too.**


	17. Royalty

**Written during my adventure with Ike. Its not exactly what i had in mind, but it moves the story along. I know where I'm headed for the next few chapters now. Hope you enjoy, and as always please reveiw!**

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They were finally home, well out of the hospital anyway, they wouldn't be _home_ home for at least a few more weeks. They had gotten everything straightened out with Ava's new diet, it had been rather easy to handle. He had it all figured out, her food was delivered once a week by a company who catered to those with Celiacs Disease. Getting over their first health scare was going to be easy; now they had broken arms, skinned knees, and bee stings to worry about.

"So," she questioned as they sat watching Ava sleep, "how much longer?"

"Longer," he questioned back.

"Until the house is finished, I was hoping it would be taken care of before school starts again. It would be nice to have one less thing to worry about."

"School," he said shocked, he had completely forgot they would both be starting school soon. Between getting Ava, dealing with the house, and starting his new job, he had let that little detail slip his mind.

"Yes, school, what's the big deal?"

"How is school going to work? I am working at ELQ during the day, taking night classes twice a week," he rubbed his head confused. "How are we going to do this? When do you plan on taking your courses? During the day? What about Ava?"

She walked over to him and took his hands in hers, smiled her sweet calming smile, "it's going to be worked out, don't worry. You deal with the house and work and I'll take care of my school and what to do about Ava. You freak out way too easily!"

"Me?!"

"Yes you," she said matter of factly.

"Okay," he nodded.

"It really can't be that difficult. The nights you don't have school you'll stay with her, I'll take classes then. On the days I have to take classes, I'll find a sitter or something. Does ELQ have a childcare program? If not, they should!"

"Are you not planning on working? I know you liked your job, do you plan on giving that up?"

"You and my sister must've really talked a lot, when I was avoiding you."

"We did. She said you really were doing a great job with school and the boutique."

"I do love it, but with Ava and school, I really don't think I'm going to have the time or energy."

"But you can't give up something you love."

She stopped him there, "but I love you and Ava more! I'm not going to miss anymore time with her," she paused, "I'm not going to miss anymore time with you."

"Yes, but I love you, and I'm not going to let you give up something you love for me."

"I'm doing it for us. It's what I want, and you can't stop me!"

"Stop you from doing something you want," he laughed, he knew he didn't have a chance.

"So, I'll take a few night classes, maybe a couple of day classes, I'll watch her when I can, you'll watch her when I can't, we'll find someone to watch her when either one of us can't. I believe they call that parenting," she grinned. "Back to the house, how close are they to being finished? When are we moving in?"

"Well," he began, "I think I'm going to move in shortly. There's water and electricity, if the contractors work during the day, I think I can get some of the other essentials done during the evening; that should speed things up, don't you think?"

"Whatever it takes to get us out of here faster."

He saw her mind churning, she had a question to ask, "what is it?"

"What is what?"

"What's your idea? You are most certainly up to something, so, what is it?"

"Well it's not important, I was just curious."

"About what?"

"Decorating."

"Decorating?"

"Decorating," she nodded, "we'll need to go shopping for furniture."

"You think I don't have furniture? I have furniture."

"You're living with Diane."

"But I was living in my own apartment before I moved here."

"And your stuff is."

He interrupted, "in storage."

"Oh," she said disappointed.

"Of course," he said trying to cheer her up, "there are still things that need to be done."

"Like what," she huffed.

"Like picking out things for Ava's room, we should really make it a place of her own."

"Ava's room," she hummed. How much fun was that going to be, she thought to herself. "What about our room?"

"Our room," he hiccupped.

"Unless you hadn't planned on us being in the same room. I just thought that after the other day," she said a little frantic.

He moved in closer to her, kissing her hand that was still intertwined with his, "I just didn't know how you wanted things. I mean there is plenty of room for you to stay in your own room, or you and Ava could take the biggest room for the two of you. I just didn't want to expect that we were going to be sharing a room. I didn't know how you would feel about that, you were just living with someone else, sharing a room with someone else."

"And I did just," she hesitated, "you know what we did. I thought that showed you how much I love you."

"So it's settled then."

"Yes," she stated firmly, "wait, what did we just settle?"

"The fact that our daughter is getting a room fit for a princess and her mother is getting free range with our room. Get anything you want, spare no expense. Pick out a new bed too."

"I thought you had furniture," she laughed.

"I don't have a bed big enough for the both of us."

"Awww, do we get to go mattress shopping?"

"I guess, if that's what you want."

"I do. And I can talk to someone about decorating Ava's room," she clapped.

"Of course. Nothing is too much for my two favorite girls."

"Awww."

"What are you 'awing' me for now?"

"We're your girls. Does that mean we rank above your beloved computer?"

"Always."

"Okay, so I'm calling a decorator tomorrow, right after I check out how I can work my school schedule with yours."

"Sounds like a plan."

She smiled, kissed him fiercely on t he lips, ruffled his hair, and hopped up the stairs to check on their daughter. She was more than ready for anything the next few weeks had in store, if it meant hard work, or time apart, she could handle it. She could handle anything that meant _their_ house could be finished. Anything that meant they could be together, anything that would give her the _family_ she had denied herself for too long.

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_so there it was. hope you enjoyed. i've got a couple of oneshots in progress. need to finish them, i started them during the hurricane, i'll post them soon._


	18. Princess

_**I am so glad this is back on track. Well, at least for now, lol. Anyway as always I hope you enjoy it and please review!**_

"Absolutely not," he said tossing the sketches back onto her bed.

"What do you mean absolutely not? You told me I could do anything I wanted to with her room! Is it the theme? I mean I thought a princess theme was cute. You were the one calling her a princess the other day. I can go with something less girlie girl. Something with less sparkle. How about a garden theme? Hmm, flowers, butterflies, dragonflies, maybe pink and green plaid. That could work. Let me talk to Jill, I mean, it is her final project after all, but I'm sure she won't mind. It'll be okay, I'm sure she won't mind. Let me call her, maybe she'll have some more ideas by the time she gets here tonight. I'm sure you'll love her."

"It's not the theme, it's this Jill girl."

"You don't mind that I hired a decorator do you? I mean I could do it all myself, I would have to rearrange some stuff, but I thought since we didn't have to pay her, since it is for a school project, that it was a good idea. Ya' know, she would be helping me, we would be helping her."

"It was a great idea," he didn't doubt that it would be another thing they didn't have to worry about, something they could check off their list, something that would mean they could move into the house sooner. "It's just that I'm not sure about Jill."

"Just meet her please, you will love her! You are probably just doubting her, because of the princesses. Maybe it was a little over the top. I'll tell her to tone whatever it is she picks down a bit, make it simpler."

He stared at her with worry, "it's because of who it is. I already know her. I, I, I," he stammered, "I cannot see her now. Tell her you're sorry, would you? Tell her you changed your mind."

She took his hands, looking at him lovingly, "I can do that if you really want me too, but I think maybe you should talk to me about this first. Really talk to me."

"Look, I just know her okay."

"Ohhhh, you know her, know her."

He hung his head.

She chuckled a bit to herself, "so how many girls was she after me?"

"What kind of question is that," he snapped back visibly upset.

"A normal one," she giggled back, softly kissing his cheek, "really what's going on? Tell me she didn't break your heart like I did."

"No, I am most afraid that I broke her heart. She was the first and only girl I ever tried to have a relationship with after you. I really thought things were going good, but there was always something," he stopped.

"Something that remind you of me, of us, of Ava, of what we should've had, what we could've had if I didn't give it all up," she took his hands and pulled him onto the foot of the bed next to her. "You can say it, you don't have to protect me, I know I screwed up."

"You didn't do anything to me."

"Yes I did I made things miserable for you, I'm glad you tried to move on, what do you think Seth was? He was my attempt to move on," she paused, "I'm not going to lie; I secretly wanted you to stay hung up on me forever, but that's just me being selfish. Anyway it really doesn't matter, we're here, together, happy."

"We are happy, that is the most important thing."

"So if we're here and happy how about we get you some closure," she insisted. "You need to talk to her, tell her the truth."

"The truth?"

"Tell her everything; tell her about me and Ava, what I did. What you were feeling."

"I don't think I can do that."

"And why not?"

"Because," his voice stalled, "because I'm pretty sure I broke her heart. She wanted more; she wanted something I just couldn't give her. Something I couldn't give anyone but you."

"Hmm?"

"I couldn't ever really give her my heart; you've had it all along."

She gave him a sad smirk and he caressed her cheek with his thumb, she took a deep breath and pulled out her phone.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm calling to cancel; Jill was supposed to be coming over after dinner."

"Go ahead and keep it, maybe some closure would be nice. Not just for me, but for her too."

"Good!"

An hour or so later the door bell rang and she ran to answer it, knowing what was about to happen.

"Hey Maxie," Jill said when she opened the door, "did you show the designs to your better half? What did he think? I really can't wait to do Ava's room. It wasn't too much was it? I can tone it down a bit."

"I might have been a little much, but that's not important. Umm," she sighed, "can we talk?"

"That doesn't sound too good, are you firing me?"

"NO! Jill I want you to do Ava's room, it's just that."

"Your boyfriend doesn't want me to."

"That's not it," he said entering the room.

Her eyes nearly bugged out of their sockets, "you," she said, her lip trembling.

"Me."

"You're Maxie's boyfriend?"

"Yes," he said closing his eyes, "and Ava's my daughter."

"You never told me you had a daughter."

"I know. It was too painful."

"We were together for almost a year and you couldn't tell me you had a kid?"

"But I didn't have her, not then anyway."

"She kept her from you?"

"It wasn't like that," Maxie chimed in.

"No it wasn't," he said sadly, "she kept Ava from the both of us, and she thought it was the best thing."

"But," she asked back confused.

"But now we know it was not the best thing. It wasn't the best thing for Ava, it wasn't the best thing for me, it wasn't the best thing for us," she said taking Spinelli's hand.

"So now you're here in Port Charles, playing house," she cried, "I left the city to get away from you, to get away from the pain you put me through, and you're here. I can't stay here. I've, I've, I have to go. I'll have someone from my class call, maybe they can do the room, I'm sorry," she said shaking, "really I am, I thought this was going to be a fun final project," she said running out of the house.

"Should I go after her?"

"Speaking as a girl I don't think that's such a good idea. Let her cool off. When she's ready to talk we can explain things better."

"You are amazing, you know that!"

"You're not so bad yourself."

"I do not feel like anything special right now."

"You'll always be special to me."

"You're too good to me."

"You're too good to me," she said pulling him into a kiss.

Across town Jill sulked into a bar, sliding into a stool, "what can I do you for," the bartender asked when she got his attention.

"Do you have something to wash away the pain?"

"Are you okay," she man next to her pried.

"Not right now? I just saw my ex. I moved here to get away from it all, then, I run into him. Sad thing is it's because of his new girlfriend, Maxie," she rolled her eyes, "I really thought I had found a friend in this town, guess not."

"Well you may have lost one friend, but you gained another," he said holding out his hand, "my name's Seth. It's very nice to meet you, Miss,"

"It's Jill, Jill Porter."

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_**Well I would love to hear what you thought! Is there anything you want to see happen, I'm not opposed to requests!**_


	19. Coffee

**Okay so I'm really not too thrilled about this chapter, but I needed to do something with Jill. I thought she was a good idea when I wrote her, but then I was like what do I do now. I'm about done with Seth too, lol, just need a way to finish him off.**

**Hope you enjoy and please review…good bad or ugly I like to hear what you think.**

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She woke up her head was spinning, she looked over and saw a man lying next to her, what had she done?

"Morning."

"Here again?"

"You asked me to stay."

"So what did we do last night?"

"You don't remember? Well, that doesn't make me feel real good."

"I remember that," she hissed, "what happened before that?"

"The bar happened."

"What's new?"

"Drunk dialing and wrapping their house."

"That was real mature of us."

"It was, wasn't it."

"So, did they catch us?"

"If they did, do you think we would be here?"

"I guess not. The police commissioner is her father. Were they even their last night?"

"I have no clue. I don't even know if they've moved in yet."

"He has," she said softly.

"Well looks like he'll wake up to a nice surprise then."

She sighed, "sir it was a pleasure doing business with you."

"Anytime Jill, anytime," Seth replied.

"I guess I'll see you tonight then won't I?"

She looked at the tree covered in toilet paper, "I can't believe they would do something like this."

"They were not thinking straight, I got a few phone calls from the two of them, they were pretty inebriated."

"Drunk or not, they can't just go around doing things like this. Spinelli it's not right and it has to stop."

"What do you suggest we do? Do you really want to file some sort of report with your father?"

"No," she sighed, "I don't want daddy involved in this, and I don't want Seth to get in trouble, I just want it to stop."

"I can talk to him."

"Seth or my dad?"

"Seth."

She shook her head, "maybe I can talk to Jill. Woman to woman. Get her to set him straight."

"Why do you think she will be able to 'set him straight,' as you put it?"

"Spinelli, you haven't noticed that they are spending all of their free time together?"

"Well," he paused, "yes, but."

"But nothing, I'm going to call her, see if she'll meet me for coffee or something."

"It might take something stronger than coffee," he laughed.

"Not gonna happen. I don't want to end up drunk dialing," she laughed. What did they say last night? Seth blathered on about how much he missed me, how much he hated that you came back and stole me from him. How he could take care of me and Ava; how he wanted to take care of us."

"That's basically the same message he left me. He wanted me to know that he wasn't going to stop trying to win you back. That you needed him in your life, and, well I don't know what else."

She looked at him confused.

"I deleted the rest of it."

"Really. I haven't been able to do that."

He looked back at her offended.

"I find everything he says amusing."

"You really listen to all that garbage?"

"Like I said, I find what he has to say so amusing."

"I don't see how, but if it makes you happy to hear him beg to get you back."

"It doesn't make me happy," she ruffled his hair, "it's just really funny. You're it for me and you know it. Now," she chuckled, "we've got a mess to clean up out here. "

"We?!"

"I'll help, I promise. Just let me call Jill first."

"I still do not think it will help."

"You are such a boy. It'll work, believe me; a nice old fashioned heart to heart is all we need."

"Whatever you say," he said rolling his eyes, "just do it quickly please, this yard is not going to pick up itself."

She rushed out the front door, skipped down the porch steps and went straight to her car.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Watch Ava would ya? Jill said she was about to get coffee and said she'd talk if I needed to talk to her that badly. She said she'd be a Kelly's, I've gotta go now. You want this settled don't you?"

"I'll watch her and I guess I can clean the yard by myself too. Have fun," he said sarcastically as she got into the car. He slowly set down next to his daughter playing in the grass, "I really don't see this working the way Mommy thinks it's going to."

She entered Kelly's in a hurry, she saw Jill setting at the counter and walked over, "do you mind if we get a table, or maybe talk outside."

"It's that important is it?"

"It is, and I'm sure you already know what it's about."

"Pretty sure I do," she huffed. "I guess we can take this outside."

Jill sunk down in a chair at the furthest table from Kelly's, "so this about what Seth and I have been doing isn't it?"

She tucked a wayward blonde curl behind her ear, "it really needs to stop. You can't have him," she replied pointedly, "and," she continued, "despite Seth's attempts to get me back, I'm not going back."

"I'm sorry," she half snickered, "I've gotten myself in way too deep here. The funny thing is I really don't want him back, it's not like I love him or anything." She shook her head, "that came out wrong. I used to love him, I really did, but I haven't for a long time. I guess seeing him again and finding out the truth just brought all these crazy unexpected feelings to the surface." She took a deep cleansing breath. "Maxie, I saw the way he looked at you the other night," she paused, "he never looked at me like that."

"Now I'm sorry," she stared into her coffee, "that's my fault. He gave me all of him and I trampled on him because I was scared of the future."

"It's not your fault he couldn't get over you," she smiled back. "I'll try and talk to Seth, I don't know if he'll listen, but I'll talk to him."

"Thank you," she said softly.

"Tell Damian I won't be bothering you anymore; it wasn't right, I realized that this morning."

"I'm really happy about that, but I think you should probably tell him. It might make him feel better, he's still pretty torn up about what happened between the two of you."

"I don't think I'm there yet," she flashed a half smile. Getting up to leave she said, "I'll talk to Seth, he might not listen, but I'll give it my best shot."

"I really wish he would listen. Remind him I'm the Police Commissioner's daughter and Diane Miller is Spinelli's aunt, would you? Really if this doesn't stop I'm going to have to take some sort of legal action. I don't want it to come to that, but if it has to," she sighed, "it will happen."

"So," he questioned when she walked onto the porch, "how did your little meeting go?"

"Just like I told you it would, better actually."

"Really? How?"

"I didn't have to go postal on her," she paused covered Ava's ears and whispered, "ass."

"What?"

"I didn't have to get all 'he's mine, you can't have him, back off or I'll beat you up.'"

"You'd do that over me."

"In a heartbeat," she said picking Ava up and snuggling against him on the porch swing.

"You amaze me. You know that right?"

"Yep," she laughed confidently, "but it's nice to hear."

"And Seth?"

"She'll be sending him a back off or else message."

He raised his eyebrow, "or else?"

"Well, you know Robin my cousin, of course you know Robin. She once dated this guy, Jason, let's just say if I had to wipe Seth out, I might be able to pull some strings."

He shot her a confused looked.

"I'm just kidding; she's telling him that if he doesn't back off we're getting Mac and Diane involved."

"I like that plan."

"But Robin did date Jason," she stated.

"I guess we've got a back-up plan then."

"Spinelli," she said shocked.

"You're the only one that can joke?"

"Anyway, you cleaned up without me."

"I really didn't expect you to do much of the cleaning up yourself. I figured you would use our daughter as some sort of excuse to do as little manual labor as possible. Besides I'm the man, yard work is in my blood."

"Right," she snickered.

"Fact, my dear, it's part of being a man."

"I'll make sure the next time we've got toilet paper in our trees not to try and get it out myself. Wouldn't want to break a nail doing a man's job?"

He laughed and kissed her cheek softly.

"Not that I mind, but what was that for?"

"I like the way you called them _our _trees."

"Me too."

* * *

**Got any suggestions just shoot me a pm.**

**Coming up steamy spixie. Most likely ftb, wasn't proud at my attempt at something more.**


	20. Two am

**So this has definitely taken on a mind of its own. I really didn't intend for this to go here. Haha. But it did, so, here it is. It's not what I promised, but I hope you like it anyway!**

* * *

"Dr. Robin, what are you doing here," he asked upon entering the living room.

"Just looking at the house," she answered through gritted teeth. "Maxie has been going on and on about it, she said she was headed over here to check on a couple things, I thought I would tag along, and then we could do lunch."

"That's nice. I had the same idea; lunch. Where is my blonde beauty this afternoon? Maxie," he called.

"She just walked into the bathroom," Robin snapped.

"Is she okay? Is there something wrong? With her I mean not the bathroom. Well," he paused, "I guess there could be something wrong with the bathroom," he rambled on, "Maxie," he again called headed down the hall.

"Spinelli, sweetie, she's just using the bathroom. Nothing's wrong," she covered.

"Hey," she sang rushing into the room to meet him, pulling him into a quick embrace.

"Are you sure everything's okay?"

She nodded, "everything's fine."

"You don't seem fine. It really feels like the two of you are hiding something."

"Nope, nothing. I'm fine, you're fine, Georgie wanted to take Ava to the park, their fine, the house is fine. Everything is fine."

"Too fine," he stated, "Why do you keep using the word fine?"

"Because everything's fine silly."

They all exchanged sideway glances, knowing someone was hiding something, but being too afraid to speak up.

"So," Robin said rocking on her heels, "who's going to give me the grand tour?"

"Since he's here, why don't you let Spinelli," Maxie insisted, "I've got a few windows to measure. Nobody wants curtains that don't fit."

"I can use a tape measure if you would like to do the honors?"

"No, go ahead, I'll only be a few minutes, I'm right behind you."

"If you insist."

"I do," Robin blurted, "Come on, let's get this show on the road. Where's Ava's room?"

"Right this way," he said leading her to the left.

"So how did everything measure up," Robin wondered when Maxie entered the kitchen.

"Not as great as I would've hoped. The curtains I got for the master bath aren't going to work, ya' know the ones I showed you."

Robin stared back at her, "well are you sure?"

"Positive," she sighed back glumly.

"New curtains cannot be that big of a problem," he stated, wrapping her into his arms.

"I guess we'll have to figure something out," she pouted.

Two a.m., who could be calling her at two a.m.? She rolled over and quickly grabbed her phone, hoping to answer before it disturbed Ava more than it already had. "What," she sleepily asked whoever was on the other end of the line.

"Are we doing this again?"

"Doing what? Who is this? Seth so help me, if that's you?"

"It's me," he stated rigidly.

"Spinelli? What's wrong? Is everything okay," she questioned a sense of panic being to set in.

"I'm fine. Well as fine as can be expected."

"What are you talking about? Something happened, didn't it? What is it?"

"You tell me."

"I really don't have time for your games, do you know what time it is? You almost woke up Ava. I had a lot of trouble getting her to sleep, if she wakes up you're coming over here to put her back to bed."

"I apologize for almost awakening her, if she does indeed wake up I will certainly come right over and put her back to sleep, she is my daughter after all."

"Apology accepted, now," she said slowly, "why on earth did you call me at two a.m.?"

"I would like to share something I found at the house with you."

"I'm exhausted, if you found a dead body, call my dad."

"I didn't find a dead body."

"Did you find buried treasure?"

"Not really."

"Well other than buried treasure or a dead body what's so damn important that it couldn't wait a few more hours. Why are you still up anyway?"

"I'm still up because of what I found. I wasn't going to call you, but I couldn't sleep."

"Well spit it out. What has you so riled up?"

"I found."

"I know you found something you already told me that. What was it?"

"I was about to tell you."

"Sorry."

"I found an empty box," he couldn't seem to get the words out.

"You called me because you found."

He cut her off, "I called you because I found an empty pregnancy test box."

Nothing. Dead silence, she couldn't talk to him about this, not now, not like this, not before she knew for sure.

"Maxie?"

"I'm here."

"Is this what Robin was really at the house for?"

She nodded, not realizing he couldn't see her, they were on the phone.

"Maxie?"

"Mmmm hmmm."

"So who should I be congratulating? You or Robin?"

"No one," she said abruptly.

"So then the test was negative?"

"Nope, it was positive."

"Huh?"

"Look I really don't want to hash this out with you tonight," she began to cry, "Ava and I are stopping by for breakfast in the morning, we can talk then, okay?"

"No it is most certainly not okay," he paused, "the test was yours wasn't it?"

"Yes and it came back positive."

"And the problem is? I mean, I know it's a surprise, but things tend to have a way of working out with us."

She gulped, here it comes, "the problems is I'm pretty sure."

"Pretty sure what?"

"I'm pretty sure it's not yours," she was sobbing even more now, "I'm almost positive it has to be Seth's."

He couldn't say anything.

"And this is exactly why I didn't say anything," she continued breaking the silence.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you're in shock, and you're probably disappointed in me again. I didn't want to say anything until after I went to the doctor tomorrow. I figured once I found out how far along I was, I would have something to tell."

"So you were waiting to tell me until after you knew?"

"Right. I just needed a better idea of who the father was before I told you."

"And you said your appointment is tomorrow. I'll take a personal day, I'll go with you."

"No you won't."

"But I want to be there for you. I love you."

"And I love you for wanting to be there, but I would really like to do this alone. I don't want Seth to somehow get suspicious. I want this to look very routine; until I know for sure."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," she sighed.

"Hey," he said softly, "I'm on my way over okay?"

"I'd like that."

* * *

**Alrighty. I know I promised something steamy. But I'm sure you all know how things tend to change when you actually start writing. This chapter started as one thing, and completely changed after I wrote only a little bit. It was like I started and a light bulb went off. I will say you can expect something steamy soon enough. Hope you enjoyed! As always, please review, I love to hear from you!**


	21. Nothing

She set in the cold sterile hospital room with her sister and cousin. They were trying to keep her mind off what was about to happen, trying to keep her spirits up. She knew a baby wasn't a bad thing; it was just the looming possibility that this baby was going to be Seth's. That this was not a child conceived with the man she loved, the man she already shared a child with, the man she was ready and willing to give her life over to. All she could think about were the decisions that had to be made.

Then she remembered what he had said that very morning, holding her close, she remembered him telling her they would get through this together. She remembered the night before, getting little to no sleep, she remembered lying there crying in his arms. She knew it was going to be a hard day, but she was determined to get through it. He had wanted to be there for her, had begged to go to the appointment with her, but she did not want to put him through that just yet, she wanted to find out for sure what exactly they were facing. She had agreed to take Georgie and Robin along with her; he had insisted that if she wouldn't let him be there for her physically someone should be.

"Hey," Georgie asked, squeezing her hand tighter, "where did you go?"

"What," she sighed.

"Just then. Where were you? What's on your mind?"

"Nothing. Everything. I was thinking about last night. This morning. How amazing he is. How even after everything I've put him through, he's always right there when I need him. How he's more than willing to be here right now."

"That's because he loves you," Robin chuckled.

"I know," she managed as her lip began to quiver.

"No tears," Georgie demanded. "He's here for you. I'm here. Robin's here. You've got plenty of people on your side. No matter what we're all here for you. No worries okay."

She took a deep breath, "no worries," she repeated. "Not yet."

"Are we ready," she questioned entering the room.

"As ready as I'm going to be for this one."

"Okay, I know you've been through this before, we're just going to run some test. Make sure everything is fine. Then we'll figure out how far along you are so we can determine the time of conception."

Her entire body shivered, "let's get this part over with."

She set biting her nails waiting for Dr. Lee to return with the results. When did she start biting her nails again, she thought, it's such a bad habit.

"So," Robin broke the silence, "how are things with Ava?"

"Good, things are good," she replied routinely.

"No problems since you brought her back home?"

"Nope. Really she's good. The new diet seems to be working just fine. She's started talking a lot more. I think she's getting comfortable around everyone." She laughed, "I'm pretty sure she tried to call Mac Grandpa the other day. At least that's what he swears she was trying to say."

"I'd love to hear her say that. He has to be so excited."

"He is. It's really great. It's been such a relief; I really didn't know how he was going to deal with everything. They've taken right to each other," she paused, "thanks."

"Thanks?"

"For getting my mind on something else."

"I wasn't trying, but you're welcome."

Dr. Lee returned with a slight smile on her face. "I've got your results, I'm know for most women this wouldn't be good news, but."

"But? But what?"

"Honey you're not pregnant."

"I'm not pregnant," she spat back. She wasn't sure if she was happy about that or not, now that she knew for sure. "What about the test I took?"

"False positive. It happens sometimes."

"So that's it, I'm not pregnant."

"Well, I'm going to run some more test, just to test your hormone levels, but basically that's it. You're not pregnant. You don't have to hang around for the test results, I'll call you either way, and if we find anything out of the ordinary and we need to, we'll set up a follow up appointment. Go home, get some rest, you look exhausted."

"Gee thanks," she smiled back.

"Not a problem," she winked, "I've got to make rounds, ya'll have a good afternoon," she said darting out of the room.

"Crisis averted, let's get lunch," Georgie practically sang.

"Ummm, no thanks."

"Hey are you okay? I thought this would be the answer to your prayers."

"It is I guess. I, well I, I just need some time alone, okay?"

"You sure?"

"Yes. I just need this to sink in. Really I'll be fine. Go ahead, don't let me ruin your afternoon." She grabbed both of them by the hand, "thanks for being here for me. I really appreciate it."

"Awww, we're family. That's what we're here for."

"Yep, that's what we're here for. I know you would do the same for either one of us."

She made her way outside the hospital and into the crisp warm air. She needed time, but she didn't know if she really needed time alone. She climbed in her car and decided to see where her heart took her. Home she thought as she climbed the porch steps her heart had lead her home. She walked in the front door and breathed in his scent. At some point he had been there today, his smell lingered, she knew what she needed. She needed him, her true north; he was where she belonged in that moment, in every moment. She immediately turned around, rushed out the house, down the front porch steps, slide into her car and drove to Diane's.

She didn't bother knocking; she made her way in, hurried up the stairs and threw open his door, walking straight into the bathroom where she heard the water running. She pulled open the shower door, not caring that she was jumping in fully clothed, she needed him plain and simple, it didn't matter what she was ruining, nothing but being with him mattered.

"Hey, hey," he said concerned.

"Hey," she blubbered back.

"What's wrong? Are you okay? Your clothes are getting all wet. What happened at the doctor?"

"Nothing."

"What do you mean nothing? What about the baby?"

"There's not a baby."

"What do you mean there's not a baby," the words catching in his throat.

"There was never a baby."

He looked at her confused.

"The doctor said it was some kind of false positive thing."

"And you're okay?"

"I'm fine, Dr. Lee ran some test, so far everything's fine."

"Good, but that's not what I meant. Are _you_ okay?"

"I'm going to be just fine." She was pretty sure that was true. She had him, she had Ava, and she had her family; a baby that was probably Seth's would have just complicated things, right?

"You're sure?"

"Shhh," she responded kissing him softly.

* * *

Okay, so who knows what happened after she kissed him? I sure don't. Hope you enjoyed this update. As always please review. If you have any ideas, requests, thoughts, just let me know.


	22. Follow

She peered up at him with wide eyes.

"We're giving your mommy a day off. I think she could use one." After everything that she had been going through a truer statement had never been spoken.

Maxie rushed out to the car.

"What is it," he asked worried.

"Are you sure about this? Why won't you let me come with you?"

"Maybe because you have been acting a little crazy lately."

"Are you calling what we did the other day crazy?"

"Certainly not," he chuckled, "but maybe the way it transpired was."

"Okay, maybe, it was a little unexpected," she sighed, "but I needed to be with you. Right there in that moment I needed you. I couldn't not be with you."

"I understand. I really do," he paused, brushing a stray strand of hair to its normal position behind her ear. "Look I know you have to be stressed out, just let me do this for you. Besides this angel and I could definitely use some time together."

She bit her thumbnail, "I just wanted to be sure you were sure."

"Are you worried about leaving her with me? You are aren't you? She is my daughter. I have spent time alone with her. Even before we brought her here; back home with us, I spent time with her."

"I guess I am being silly." She took a deep breath, "what do the two of you have planned today?"

"Well, our itinerary includes lunch with my Aunt." She was glaring at him. "I thought maybe we could show up and drag her away from whatever case she is obsessing over. I was hoping to spend some time in the park, and maybe the library for story time." She nodded, he continued, "and then we will head where ever else the wind takes us."

"Alright," she said wondering what he was really up to. "You two have fun bonding. Tell Diane I said hi okay?"

"Will do. Get some rest, okay," he said kissing her forehead. He climbed into the car and she watched them roll out of the driveway. "Looks like it's just you and me love, how about we go steal Aunt Diane for a little while."

She stepped out of her office when her secretary announced their arrival. "This is a surprise," she said snatching Ava from Spinelli's arms. "What are you two up to? It feels like it's been ages."

"We are spending the day together. I thought Maxie might need a break."

Leading them into her office she asked, "Is everything alright?"

"She is just a little stressed, nothing to worry too much about."

"Stressed. Hmmm," she said a slight glimmer in her eye.

"Yes, stressed. She had some _things_ going on. They have been dealt with; a nice relaxing day with absolutely nothing to do should do her some good."

"So would a day at the spa," she stated paging her secretary.

"What are you doing?"

"Janice," she said turning her attention to the lady who had just entered the room. "Call that day spa I like so much. Set up something for Ms. Jones. Then have a car sent over to pick her up."

"Yes ma'am Ms. Miller."

He stood there shaking his head.

"Don't worry, she'll love it. We can even make her think you thought of it," she nodded proudly. "Why didn't you think of it? I thought I taught you better."

"You did, you did. This is what brought us here."

"Oh really?"

"Indeed. Ava and I were hoping we could steal you away for lunch."

"Lunch with the two of you? I would love a free meal, but I don't know about the company?"

He pouted at her flashing his puppy dog eyes.

"Well I am certainly not going to set here and stare at that face."

"So?"

"So, I would love to join the two of you for lunch.

"I guess we will see you at Metro Court. Is 12:30 okay with you? That will give us plenty of time for the duck pond, and story time at the library, and then Ava and I can head to the grocery store after lunch."

"The grocery store? That's very domestic of you."

"I intend on preparing a full fledged family dinner this evening. You are invited of course."

"I did teach you well," she gushed patting him lightly on the cheek. "And of course you can do it at my house," she offered. "I know your house isn't finished, and it won't be much of a surprise if you do it at Mac's. Just call everybody, it'll be great."

"I think I will."

"Now, this young lady and I have a date with a floor mat and a nice book about a caterpillar."

A hungry caterpillar, happily fed aunt and daughter, and several baby ducks later lead him and Ava to the rest of their errands. The grocery store was easier than he had expected, no muss, no fuss; they were very content being together. He was her dad and she was finally becoming daddy's little girl. A moment he had always wished for.

"It will not be long, Ava love, not long at all," he thought aloud. "One more stop and this evening will prove to be most delightful."

They headed to the car groceries in tow and made a quick call to Mac. "Commissioner Sir," he asked shyly.

"Spinelli?"

"Yes sir. I was calling to invite you to Diane's this evening for dinner."

"Dinner?"

"Yes. I have a few things I would like to discuss with you."

"Is this going where I think its going?"

"I hope so."

"Well," he paused, "I don't want to hash this out with you over the phone."

"Hash this out?"

"Uh-huh. I really do think you may be rushing things. Don't get me wrong, I like you, and I like what you've done for my daughter, you're a good man, and the father of my grandchild, but I don't know if the two of you are ready for such a big leap."

"Sir, you are right, this isn't something we should be hashing out over the phone."

"Fine. We can talk about this more after dinner."

"Then you are coming?"

"Wouldn't miss it."

"Can you relay this invitation to the rest of the Scorpio clan?"

"I can do that."

"Dinner is at 6:30."

"See you then." He hung up his phone and then hung his head. Maybe they were ready, but he certainly wasn't prepared to lose her again.

He pulled into the nearest parking spot, unhooked the booster seat, and he and Ava quietly made it into the store.

"May I help you sir?"

"Yes ma'am," he responded with a sadden smile. He should be happy, but Mac's doubts had brought out a few of his own. What if she was only with him for the sake of Ava? What if the new would wear off of this relationship, like it did with every relationship? What if she wasn't ready? What would happen to his heart if that was indeed the case?

"Sir?"

He was pulled out of his thoughts, "right. Sorry. I'm here to pick up something."

"What kind of something are you looking for?"

"I already have it all picked out. I'm just here to pick up the order, it was being engraved. It's for Damian Spinelli."

"I'll get it from the back."

He held Ava on his hip in anticipation, pacing the showroom floor with nervous energy.

"Here it is. Would you like to check the inscription, make sure we got everything correct," she said handing it over.

He leaned over into the magnifying glass to inspect what had been etched into the platinum band, _Follow…Love will Lead._ A happy smile soon returned to his face and he let out a sigh, "It's perfect."

Across the street a familiar face saw him leaving the store and smiled.


	23. Finally

Alright. Here it finally is. An update. The last one you'll be getting on this particular fanfic. Hope you all enjoy.

* * *

She stood there on the sidewalk, jaw dropped, staring down at him and the ring he was offering her.

"Marry me," he simply said.

She couldn't speak, didn't know how to respond. "Get up," she finally spit out. "Please just get up. You look insane," she explained. "You're proposing to me? Here in the middle of the street?" She looked around at the people that began to congregate around them. "In the middle of the day? You really have lost it," she chuckled.

"I'm not going to get up until you say yes."

She rolled her eyes.

"I'm serious. I'm here, on one knee, asking you to be mine, forever and always. I'm fighting for you. I trying to prove that I love you. That I love you more than he does. I'll never forget that night I left. I guess you didn't think I heard you say it. But I did. I heard you say that I could never love you the way he did."

She pinched the bridge of her nose.

"I'm fighting for you, Maxie. Damn it," he paused. "I'm fighting for you."

"There's nothing to fight for. Don't you get it? How many times do I have to tell you this isn't a competition? God," she rubbed her temples and counted to five. "Seth, I am not some goldfish you win at the fair. You walked out. You couldn't handle me being friends with him and you left."

"And what if I didn't leave? What then?"

"I honestly don't know where you and I would be. I know I wanted my daughter back. And I know I wanted him to be in her life," she hesitated, "and in mine. I never let go of him. Not really."

"But."

"But nothing. I love him and eventually it will be the two of us, me and him, forever and always," she bluntly stated brushing away the tears that had begun to fall. All the stress that had just been kneaded out was quickly forming new knots.

Home. She needed to be home.

"Maxie! Thank God you're here."

She jumped at the sound of his over excited voice, "Dillion!"

"I need you," he said dropping down on one knee.

"What the hell," her eyes grew wide, "Not again!"

"Whoa." He threw his hands up in a surrender motion, "Maxie relax. I'm not asking you to marry me. What's your deal?"

"Oh really?! What are you doing then?"

"I was going to see if I could practice on you. I plan on proposing to your sister tonight, and I want to work out all the kinks first. And, you didn't answer my question, what's you deal?"

"Nothing," she insisted.

"Alright," he said still confused, "I guess I will go find someone else to "run lines" with. Oh, I almost forgot, Georgie called, family dinner at Diane's tonight. 6:30."

Sure, a family dinner. That's exactly what she needed right now. NOT!

6:40 she thought, not too bad.

"Maxie you made it," Diane said smiling as she opened the door.

"Spinelli and Ava are here," she shrugged, "where else would I be?"

"Everyone's in the kitchen."

"Oh, I'm that late?"

"Of course not, Georgie and Robin aren't here yet," Diane replied as they made their way to the kitchen.

"I have a feeling Georgie may not show up at all," she said under her breath.

"What was that?" Mac asked walking up beside her and passing Ava over.

"Nothing. How is my Ava girl? Did you and daddy have fun?"

The little girl nodded squirming in Maxie's arms to get down.

"Alright. Go play," she said deflated.

"Honey are you okay," Mac asked concerned.

She simply nodded.

"Well, I heard what Spinelli did for you today. The two of us had a very long talk."

"Daddy! You didn't lay into him again did you? Don't make me chose. Please."

"Mac and I have reached and understanding," Spinelli stated walking into the room.

Maxie eyed the two of them.

"An understanding," Mac agreed.

"What kind of understanding did you and Spinelli reach Uncle Mac?"

"Hello to you too Robin. And one about life."

"Oh brother."

"Diane don't roll your eyes like that."

"Fine, you and my nephew have reached an understanding about life. Care to share?"

"Not at the moment."

"I'm starving. Is dinner ready," Robin asked.

"Yes, but we were waiting on Georgie."

"We're here and we're engaged!"

"Engaged," Mac shouted.

"Let's see the ring," Robin said.

"Congratulations," Maxie and Spinelli both mumbled.

"You can't be engaged," Mac said scratching his head. "Not you two."

"Mac," Diane said swatting him in the chest.

"No. it wasn't supposed to happen like this. Not tonight. I mean. I thought," he muttered to himself.

"You thought what daddy," Georgie questioned, "aren't you happy for us?"

"Of course I'm happy," he said holding out his arms, "come here. Congratulations!"

"For a second there I thought you were going to say she couldn't marry me."

"I'm just surprised that's all."

"You couldn't have really been that surprised," Robin said shaking her head, "they've only been going out for forever."

"I just didn't see it coming," he said glancing in Spinelli's direction.

"Umm, how about we eat? We can discuss this more over a family meal that will now go down in history."

"Finally food," Robin said excitedly, "What? It's been a long day. Patrick and I got in a fight."

"So," Diane smiled, "does anyone else have anything exciting they want to share?"

Spinelli glared at her.

"Anyone? Guess not," she huffed, "Let's eat."

"She's nodding off. Just look at her. Isn't it cute how her head bobs like that."

"My daughter is not a bobble head," Maxie barked.

"Maxie I don't think Dillion was suggesting she was."

"She's just sleepy. She had a long day today. I'm going to go lay her down in your room," she said getting up from the table.

"Don't do that," he said getting up too, "I've got a surprise for you."

"I've had enough surprises for one day. She's going to fall into her plate. Just let me lay her down."

"Maxie, two seconds, I swear," he said pulling Ava's plate away from her. "See, now she can't fall into it."

She rolled her eyes, "two seconds."

"Here," he said pulling a box out of his pocket.

Everyone at the table gasped.

With a trembling hand she took the box he was offering, "Spinelli?"

"Just open it."

She lifted the lid, and sighed in relief, "it's a key!"

"The key to his heart," Robin asked."

"Actually," he shook his head, "it's the key to our house!"

"Its finished?"

"It will be by the end of next week."

She rushed to him and threw her arms around his neck. "Thank you," she said kissing his check. "This was a good surprise," she said kissing him again. "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you," she said kissing him again more soundly.

A chorus of cleared throats filled the air.

"Sorry," she giggled. "I'm just gonna go lay Ava down now."

"Allow me," he said scooping up their half asleep daughter.

She followed him into his room, "you didn't have to follow."

"I know, but I like watching her sleep. She's so peaceful," she said as she slid onto the bed too.

"She is amazing to watch isn't she," he said making himself a spot on the other side of the little girl.

He took her hand, interlocked their fingers and brought it to his lips. "I love you. Thank you for bringing her back to us. Thank you for giving me another chance."

"Marry me," she whispered.

"What?"

"Marry me," she smiled.

He looked at her confused, "you're sure?"

"Marry me."

He reached over both her and Ava and pulled open his nightstand drawer.

"Are you going to answer me?"

"Here's your answer," he said handing her another box.

"Spinelli," she gasped as she opened it.

* * *

Well like I said that's it. This one is over. Hope you enjoyed and thanks to all those people who have read and reviewed.

I don't have anything in the works. I'm honestly not feeling very creative. Haven't for a while now. If that changes expect more from me. Maybe I'll start off with a oneshot. Again thanks for reading.


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